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THE     BEGINNINGS     OF 
MODERN      IRELAND 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF 
MODERN     IRELAND 

BY    PHILIP     WILSON 


"  Opus  adgredior  opimum  casibus^  atrox  proeliis^ 
discors  seditionibuSy  ipsa    etiam   pace  savom^'' 


BALTIMORE 
NORMAN,  REMINGTON   ^  COMPANY 

1913 


WIIS 

PREFACE 

The  conquest  of  Ireland  during  the  reigns  of 
Henry  VIII  and  his  three  successors  forms  a 
complete  and  self-contained  chapter  of  Irish 
history.  The  story  is  one  which,  after  the  lapse 
of  more  than  three  centuries,  still  excites  the 
fiercest  racial  and  religious  animosities,  and 
which,  even  in  our  own  time,  has  been  fre- 
quently related  in  a  very  unhistorical  spirit. 

Of  the  materials  upon  v^hich  the  ensuing 
narrative  is  based,  a  considerable  part  exist  only 
in  manuscript  ;  while  most  of  the  remainder 
are  contained  in  books  which,  being  bulky, 
expensive,  and,  in  many  cases,  out  of  print,  are 
seldom  found  outside  a  large  public  library. 
For  this  reason  I  have  thought  it  desirable  to 
insert  in  my  narrative  numerous  and  lengthy 
extracts  from  official  and  other  contemporary 
documents.  The  objections  to  this  method  of 
writing  history  are  sufficiently  obvious  ;  but 
it  has  at  least  one  incontestable  advantage.  It 
places  the  facts  before  the  reader  in  the  words 
of  the  original  authorities,  and  enables  him  to 
form  his  own  judgment  upon  them. 

vii 


PREFACE 

The  principal  source  of  information  for  the 
period  covered  by  the  first  five  chapters  of  the 
present  volume  is  the  great  collection  of  State 
Papers  published  by  the  Record  Commission 
(ii  vols.,  1832-51).  Vols.  II  and  III  contain 
the  correspondence  betv^een  the  English  and 
Irish  governments.  This  series  extends  only 
to  the  death  of  Henry  VIII.  The  State  Papers 
of  the  reigns  of  Edward  VI,  Mary  and  Elizabeth 
are  in  the  Record  Ofiice.  Of  these  a  useful 
but  somew^hat  meagre  abstract  vv^ill  be  found 
in  the  first  volume  of  the  Calendar  edited  by 
the  late  Mr.  Hamilton  (1869).  All  documents 
cited  by  the  date  and  the  name  of  the  writer 
without  further  reference  are  derived  from  these 
sources.  The  Record  Office  also  contains 
several  important  papers  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII,  which  have  not  been  printed. 
These  are  cited  as  "  MSS.  R.O." 

Scarcely  less  valuable  is  the  collection  of  the 
papers  of  Sir  George  Carew,  contained  in  the 
archiepiscopal  library  at  Lambeth,  and  calen- 
dared by  Drs.  Brewer  and  BuUen  (6  vols., 
1867-73).  These  are  quoted  as  Carew  MSS. 
As  the  arrangement  is  strictly  chronological  I 
have  judged  it  unnecessary  to  add  a  reference 
to  the  volume  and  page.      The  Carew  Calendar 

viii 


PREFACE 

is  so  elaborate  that  it  has  not,  except  in  a  very- 
few  instances,  been  necessary  to  consult  the 
manuscripts.  In  two  or  three  cases,  however, 
the  abstract  omits  important  information  ;  the 
translation  of  Latin  documents  is  not  always 
accurate  ;  a  few  letters  are  incorrectly  dated  ; 
and  at  least  one  very  important  paper,  the 
Description  of  the  Provinces  of  Ireland  in 
1580,  is  altogether  omitted.  In  all  these  cases. 
I  have  examined  the  original  documents. 

The  Calendar  of  Patent  Rolls^  edited  by- 
James  Morrin  (2  vols.,  1861-62),  contains  a 
quantity  of  valuable  information,  which  the 
arrangement  of  the  book  renders  as  inaccessible 
as  possible  ;  but  the  Calendar  of  Plants,  printed 
as  an  appendix  to  the  seventh  and  subsequent 
reports  of  the  Deputy  Keeper  of  Public 
Records,  is  much  more  useful  as  a  work  of 
reference.  Other  collections,  which  have  been 
less  frequently  used,  are  sufficiently  described 
in  the  footnotes. 

Acts  of  the  Irish  parliament  are  cited  by  the 
year  and  chapter  only  :  when  an  English  act 
is  quoted  the  word  English  is  added. 

Of  literary  as  distinct  from  documentary 
authorities,  Spenser's  View  of  the  State  of  Ireland, 
Sir  John    Davies's  Discovery  of  the  True  Causes 

ix 


PREFACE 

ivhy  Ireland  was  never  entirely  Subdued^  and  other 
tracts  of  Davies,  are  quoted  from  Ireland  under 
Elizabeth  and  James  /,  edited  by  Professor 
Henry  Morley  (Carisbrooke  Library,  1890). 
The  descriptive  portions  of  Fynes  Moryson's 
Itinerary  are  quoted  from  Shakespeare'' s  Europe^ 
edited  by  Mr.  C.  Hughes  (1903),  the 
narrative  portions  from  the  Glasgow  edition  (4 
vols.,  1907-8).  The  Chronicle  by  Richard 
Stanihurst,  and  the  continuation  by  John 
Hooker  alias  Vowell,  are  quoted  from  the 
sixth  volume  of  Holinshed's  Chronicles  (1809), 
Stafford's  Pacata  Hibernia  from  the  edition  by 
Mr.  StandishO'Grady  (2  vols.,  1896),  the  works 
of  Strype,  from  the  Oxford  edition  of  1821, 
and  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters  from  the 
edition  by  John  O'Donovan  (7  vols,  1851), 
Sir  James  Ware's  Bishops  of  Ireland^  and  Writers 
of  Ireland,  are  quoted  from  the  edition  by  Walter 
Harris  (2  vols.,  1764).  References  to  Ware's 
Antiquities  of  Ireland  2S^  also  made  to  this  edition, 
when  no  other  is  mentioned  ;  but,  as  Harris 
made  considerable  alterations  in  that  work,  I 
have  always  collated  his  edition  with  that  of 
1705.  Ware's  Annals  of  Ireland,  which  were 
not  printed  by  Harris,  are  always  quoted  from 
the  edition  of  1705. 

X 


PREFACE 

I  have  throughout  endeavoured  to  support 
my  statements  by  references  to  contemporary 
authorities  ;  but  I  have  no  intention  of  con- 
cealing my  obligations  to  later  writers  ;  and  I 
am  particularly  anxious  to  acknowledge  the 
assistance  which  I  have  derived  from  Froude's 
History  of  England,  from  the  late  Dr.  Richey's 
Short  History  of  the  Irish  People,  from  Mr. 
Bagwell's  Ireland  under  the  Tudors,  from  Die 
Englische  Kolonisation  in  Ireland,  by  Dr.  Moritz 
Bonn,  from  the  admirable  chapter  on  "  Ireland 
to  the  ^Plantation  of  Ulster,"  contributed  by 
Mr.  Dunlop  to  the  third  volume  of  the 
Cambridge  Modern  History,  and  from  numerous 
articles  by  the  same  writer  in  the  Dictionary  of 
National  Biography  and  the  English  Historical 
Review. 

The  present  work  extends  only  to  the  acces- 
sion of  Elizabeth  ;  but  another  book  is  in 
preparation,  in  which  the  narrative  will  be 
continued  to  the  close  of  the  Tudor  period. 

British  Museum,  September,  1912. 


XI 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Introduction  i 


Chapter  I — The   Lordship  of  Ireland       29 

State  of  Ireland  in  1500 — The  Native  Clans — 
The  Norman  Colonists  in  Ulster — In  Connaught 
— In  Munster  and  Leinster — Limits  of  the 
Pale — Story  of  St.  Brigid — Relation  of  the  "  mere 
Irish "  to  English  law — The  Brehon  laws — 
Tanistry — Gavelkind — Fosterage  and  gossipred 
—  The  half-feudalized  districts  —  Coyne  and 
livery — Description  of  James,  Earl  of  Desmond 
— Conduct  of  the  Earl  of  Ormond — The  Royal 
Commission  of  1537 — Special  misery  of  the  four 
shires — Payment  of  "  black  rents  " — Corruption 
and  inefficiency  of  the  government  —  State  of 
the  walled  towns — Policy  of  England 


Chapter  II — The  Geraldine  Revolt  81 

Ascendancy  of  the  Kildare  family — Viceroyalty  of 
Surrey — Of  Delvin  and  Skeffington — Conspiracy 
against  the  Earl  of  Kildare — His  recall — Rebellion 
of  Thomas,  Lord  OfFaly — Foreign  affairs — Offaly 
invades  the  Pale — Flight  and  death  of  Archbishop 
Alen — Siege  of  Dublin — Sir  William  Skeffington, 
Lord  Deputy — Dissensions  among  the  Irish  con- 
federates— The  O'Briens — The  Desmond  succes- 
sion— Siege  and  capture  of  Maynooth — Lord 
Leonard  Gray — Surrender  of  Kildare — Execution 
of  the  Earl  and  his  uncles 

xiii 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter  III — The  Irish  Church  123 

The  Reformation — Scandalous  condition  of  the 
Irish  Church  —  Appointment  of  Bishops  in  the 
Pale — In  the  Irish  districts — General  character 
of  the  hierarchy — Of  the  parochial  clergy — 
Indifference  of  the  laity  to  religion — Ruinous 
condition  of  the  churches — Early  history  of  Irish 
monasticism — The  monasteries  in  1537 — Valu- 
able services  rendered  by  the  greater  monasteries 
— Their  anti-national  character  —  Admirable 
conduct  of  the  mendicant  orders — George 
Browne,  Archbishop  of  Dublin — His  letter  to 
Cromwell — Constitution  of  the  Irish  Parliament 
— The  Act  of  Supremacy — First  attack  upon  the 
monasteries — Failure  of  the  Reformation 


Chapter   IV — The   Geraldine   League     171 

Death  of  Skeffington.  Lord  Leonard  Gray, 
Deputy — Invasion  of  Munster — O'Brien's  Bridge 
— Mutiny  of  the  army — Gerald,  eleventh  Earl 
of  Kildare — Cabal  against  Gray — Misery  of  the 
country — Invasion  and  conquest  of  Offaly — 
Appointment  of  a  Royal  Commission — Report 
of  the  commissioners — The  Lord  Deputy  and 
the  Protestants — Enormous  power  of  the  Butlers 
— The  O'Donels — Gray  adopts  a  conciliatory 
policy  —  Lady  Eleanor  MacCarthy  —  Gray  in 
Munster  and  Connaught — Complaints  of  the 
Council  —  The  O'Conors  of  Connaught  — 
General  confederacy  of  the  Irish — Confession  of 
Conor  Mor  O'Conor — Campaign  of  Bellahoe — 
James  FitzMaurice — Escape  of  Kildare 

Chapter  V — The  Kingdom  of  Ireland     227 

Recall  of  Gray — Misery  of  the  Country — Irish 
policy  of  Henry  VIII — Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger, 

xiv 


CONTENTS 

Lord  Deputy  —  Death  of  FitzMaurice  —  Sub- 
mission of  Desmond  —  Of  Mac  William  —  Of 
MacGillapatrick  —  Of  O'Conor  —  The  Irish 
Parliament — Trial  and  execution  of  Gray — Sub- 
mission of  O'Donel— Of  O'Neil— Of  O'Brien 
— Of  the  lesser  chiefs — Con  O'Neil  created  Earl 
of  Tyrone — Other  peerages  conferred — Fatal 
mistake  of  the  government — Ecclesiastical  affairs. 
The  Royal  Supremacy  —  Dissolution  of  the 
monasteries — State  of  Leinster — Of  Munster — 
Of  Ulster  and  Connaught — Cabal  against  St. 
Leger — His  popularity  with  the  Irish — Death  of 
Ormond 


Chapter  VI — The  Reformation  295 

Brian  O'Conor — Insurrection  in  Leinster — Recall 
of  St.  Leger — Viceroyalty  of  Bellingham — His 
recall  and  death  —  Foreign  intrigues.  The 
Bishop  of  Valence — St.  Leger  again  Deputy — 
Brereton  at  Lecale — First  attempts  at  proselytism 
— The  English  liturgy — Sir  James  Crofts,  Deputy 
— Conference  at  St.  Mary's  Abbey — The  primacy 
— The  vacant  bishoprics — John  Bale,  Bishop  of 
Ossory  —  His  "  Vocacyon  "  —  Report  of  Sir 
Thomas  Cusack — Depreciation  of  the  currency 


Chapter     VII — The     Plantation     of 

Leix  and  Offaly  359 

Bishop  Bale  at  Kilkenny  —  Restoration  of 
Catholicism  —  Deprivation  of  the  Protestant 
Bishops  —  Archbishop  Curwen  —  Ecclesiastical 
policy  of  Mary — The  title  "Queen  of  Ireland  " — 
Disturbances  in  Leix  and  OfFaly — In  Clanricarde 

XV 


CONTENTS 

— In  Thomond — In  Ulster — Return  of  Kildare 
— Third  Viceroyalty  of  St.  Leger — FitzWalter 
Deputy.  His  instructions — State  of  Ireland  in 
1556  —  Reduction  of  Leix  and  Offaly  —  A 
Parliament  summoned.  Ecclesiastical  legislation 
— Plantation  of  Leix  and  Offaly — Administration 
of  the  Earl  of  Sussex — His  quarrel  with  Arch- 
bishop Dowdall — Sir  Henry  Sydney,  Lord  Justice 
— Dr.  Dowdall's  "  Opinion  touching  the  govern- 
ment of  Ireland  " — The  Scots  in  Ulster — The 
O'Neils 


INDEX  427 


XVI 


INTRODUCTION 

To  the  philosophical  student  of  history  the 
story  of  Ireland  affords  an  interest  not  altogether 
dissimilar  from  that  which  the  physician  derives 
from  the  most  painful  and  complex  cases  of 
bodily  disease.  To  such  a  student  historical 
inquiry  will  always  appear  valuable  in  propor- 
tion as  it  enables  him  to  trace  events  to  their 
causes,  and  to  explain  the  present  condition  of 
a  nation  by  reference  to  its  past.  Brilliant 
characters  and  dramatic  episodes  may  fire  the 
imagination  and  excite  the  sympathy  of  the 
reader :  but  a  comprehensive  study  of  the 
operation  of  general  causes  can  alone  enlighten 
his  understanding.  And  since,  in  the  political 
no  less  than  in  the  physical  body,  the  causes  of 
disease  are  sometimes  more  easily  traceable  than 
those  of  health,  the  history  of  Ireland  can 
scarcely  fail  to  be  peculiarly  instructive. 

In  making  this  assertion  I  am  assuming  the 
truth  of  two  propositions,  which  appear  to  me 
to  be  at  once  indisputable  and  essential  to 
a  correct  understanding  of  Irish  history.  The 
first  is,  that  the  present  condition  of  Ireland  is 
one  of  political  disease.  The  second  is,  that 
the  causes  of  this  condition  are  to  be  found  in 


INTRODUCTION 

the  past  history  of  the  country/  The  former 
proposition  will  not,  I  think,  be  disputed  by 
any  one  who  has  even  a  superficial  acquaintance 
with  Irish  society  and  Irish  popular  literature. 
The  complete  alienation  of  the  immense  majority 
of  the  nation  from  the  government,  and  the 
complete  failure  of  the  government  to  attract  to 
itself  the  loyalty  of  the  nation,  are  phenomena 
which,  whether  we  attribute  them  to  a  mis- 
taken policy  on  the  part  of  the  rulers  or  to 
ineradicable  defects  on  the  part  of  the  people, 
no  friend  either  of  the  people  or  of  their  rulers 
can  contemplate  without  distress.  If  this  were 
all  the  matter  would  be  sufficiently  serious. 
But  when  to  the  interminable  conflict  between 
the  nation  and  the  government  we  have  to  add 
the  profound  and  wide-spread  hostility  between 
the  owners  of  the  soil  and  their  tenants,  the 
ostentatious  repudiation  of  all  national  feelings 
by  the  wealthiest  and  most  cultured  portion  of 
the  community,  the  disgraceful  sympathy  of 
the  lower  classes  with  the  most  brutal  forms  of 

^  "Irish  history  resembles  that  of  Spain  during  the  last 
three  centuries,  described  by  a  modern  writer  as  the  elabora- 
tion of  all  those  ideas  of  law  and  political  economy  according 
to  which  a  nation  should  not  be  governed." — Richey's  Short 
History  of  the  Irish  People^  P-  3« 

"In  the  history  of  Ireland  we  may  trace  with  singular 
clearness  the  perverting  and  degrading  influence  of  great 
legislative  injustices  and  the  manner  in  which  they  affect  in 
turn  every  element  of  national  well-being." — Lecky's  History 
of  Ireland^  vol.  i.  p.  I. 

2 


INTRODUCTION 

agrarian  crime,  the  habitual  subordination  of 
secular  interests  to  religious  theories  by  all 
parties,  and  the  utter  want  of  a  sober  and 
rational  patriotism  in  any,  we  are  constrained  to 
admit  that  the  condition  of  Ireland  affords  a  most 
humiliating  contrast  to  that  of  almost  every 
other  country  with  a  pretence  to  civilization. 

The  truth  of  my  second  proposition  will, 
I  suspect,  be  less  generally  acknowledged. 
Opinions  as  to  the  origin  of  sociological 
phenomena  are  frequently  adopted  with  refer- 
ence rather  to  the  prejudices  of  those  who 
hold  them  than  to  the  evidence  upon  which 
they  rest ;  and  to  this  circumstance  must  be 
ascribed  the  prevalence,  even  among  educated 
men,  of  theories  concerning  what  is  called 
"  the  Irish  question,"  which  a  careful  study 
of  Irish  history  shows  to  be  almost  ludicrously 
incorrect.  Of  these  theories  that  which  traces 
the  misfortunes  of  Ireland  to  the  ineradicable 
defects  of  the  Celtic  character  is  at  once  the  most 
wide-spread,  the  most  pernicious  and  the  most 
absurd.  This  doctrine,  which  not  only  derives 
no  support  from  historical  evidence  but  is 
completely  refuted  by  it,  has  nevertheless  com- 
mended itself  to  many  English  writers,  who 
are  at  once  unable  to  deny  the  deplorable 
condition  of  Irish  society,  and  unwilling  to 
confess  that  that  condition  is  due  to  the  mis- 
deeds of  their  own  countrymen.  In  contending 
that  the  position  taken  up  by  these  writers  is 

3 


INTRODUCTION 

altogether  untenable,  I  shall  not  discuss  the 
question  whether  there  is  any  essential  difference 
of  character  between  the  various  branches  of 
what  is  usually  called  the  Aryan  race  :  though  I 
may  remark  in  passing  that  there  is  a  growing 
tendency  on  the  part  of  modern  sociologists  to 
ascribe  divergences  of  national  character  not  to 
difference  of  origin,  but  to  difference  of  environ- 
ment/ I  shall  take  narrower  ground.  I 
maintain  that  it  is  the  duty  of  those  who 
attribute  the  diseased  condition  of  Irish  society 
to  the  infirmities  of  Celtic  humanity  to  show, 
first,  that  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland  are  mainly 
or  exclusively  of  Celtic  origin :  or  else  that  the 
disorders  of  Ireland  have  been  confined  to  dis- 
tricts   of  which   the   population   is    mainly    or 

■^"Of  all  vulgar  modes  of  escaping  from  the  consideration 
of  the  effects  of  social  and  moral  influences  on  the  human 
mind  the  most  vulgar  is  that  of  attributing  the  diversities  of 
conduct  and  character  to  inherent  national  differences." — 
Mill's  Political  Economy^  p.  197. 

"  It  (the  Brehon  Lavir)  conveys  a  stronger  impression  than 
ever  of  a  wide  separation  between  the  Aryan  race  and  races 
of  other  stocks,  but  it  suggests  that  many,  perhaps  most,  of 
the  differences  in  kind  alleged  to  exist  between  Aryan 
sub-races  are  really  differences  merely  in  degree  of  develop- 
ment. It  is  to  be  hoped  that  contemporary  thought  will 
before  long  make  an  effort  to  emancipate  itself  from  the  habits 
of  levity  in  adopting  theories  of  race  which  it  seems  to  have 
contracted.  Many  of  those  theories  appear  to  have  little 
merit  except  the  facility  they  give  for  building  on  them 
inferences  tremendously  out  of  proportion  to  the  mental 
labour  which  they  cost  the  builder." — Maine's  Early  History 
of  Institutions^  pp.  96-97. 

4 


INTRODUCTION 

exclusively  Celtic :  secondly,  that  similar  dis- 
orders are  to  be  found  in  every  other  community 
which  is  mainly  or  exclusively  Celtic :  and 
lastly,  that  no  such  disorders  are  to  be  found  in 
any  community  not  mainly  or  exclusively  Celtic. 
And  I  further  maintain  that  not  one  of  these 
three  propositions  v^^ill  bear  a  moment's  in- 
vestigation. 

Even  before  the  arrival  of  the  first  Norman 
invaders  a  great  part  of  Ireland  had  been 
over-run  by  immigrants  from  Denmark  and 
Scandinavia :  and  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century  many  tow^ns  in  Leinster  and 
Munster  vv^ere  occupied  by  a  population  of 
unquestionably  Teutonic  descent.  Tow^ards 
the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  the  Anglo- 
Norman  lords  and  their  Saxon  retainers  not  only 
expelled  the  aboriginal  population  from  the 
territory  afterwards  known  as  "the  Pale,"  but 
occupied  the  greater  part  of  Munster  and 
established  colonies  even  in  the  remote  pro- 
vinces of  Ulster  and  Connaught.  Between  the 
twelfth  and  the  sixteenth  century  these  colonies 
were  repeatedly  reinforced  by  fresh  bands  of 
immigrants  from  the  mother-country.  During 
the  wars  of  the  sixteenth  century  two  great 
"plantations"  of  Englishmen  were  established 
in  different  parts  of  the  island.  In  the  reign  of 
Mary  an  English  colony  was  planted  in  Leinster 
on  the  lands  of  the  O'Conors  and  O'Moores, 
thereafter   known   as   the   King's    and   Queen's 

5 


INTRODUCTION 

counties.  In  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  another 
colony  was  planted  on  the  territories  forfeited 
by  the  last  Earl  of  Desmond,  which  extended 
over  the  greater  part  of  Munster.  A  few 
years  after  the  accession  of  James  the  First 
Sir  John  Davies  expressed  an  opinion  that  a 
majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland  were  of 
English  descent ;  ^  and,  although  this  estimate 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  based  upon  any 
very  precise  calculations,  there  is  every  reason 
to  suppose  that  it  was  correct.  At  all  events 
the  great  plantation  of  Ulster,  which  almost 
immediately  followed,  made  the  preponderance 
indisputable.  Since  that  time  the  numerical 
superiority  of  the  non-Celtic  over  the  Celtic 
Irish  has  been  still  further  increased  :  on 
the  one  hand  by  the  extermination  of  a 
great  part  of  the  latter  during  the  civil  wars 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  by  the  expatriation 
of  most  of  the  old  Irish  families  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  eighteenth,  and  by  that  great 
emigration  which  marked  the  latter  half  of  the 
nineteenth,  and  which,  although  it  affected 
every  part  of  the  island,  was  naturally  most  felt  in 

^  "  There  have  been  so  many  English  colonies  planted  in 
Ireland  that,  if  the  people  were  numbered  at  this  day  by  the 
poll,  such  as  were  descended  of  English  race  would  be  found 
more  in  number  than  the  ancient  natives." — Discovery  of  the 
True  Causes  why  Ireland  was  never  entirely  Subdued ^  p.   2. 

In  1640  it  was  asserted  that  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland  were 
"now  for  the  most  part  descended  of  British  ancestors." — 
Rush  worth's  Trial  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford. 

6 


INTRODUCTION 

the  poorest  districts  of  the  west  and  south,  where, 
if  anywhere,  the  Celtic  element  might  still  be 
supposed  to  prevail  ;  and,  on  the  other,  by  the 
great  plantations  effected  under  the  Protectorate 
and  after  the  Revolution,  as  well  as  by  much 
subsequent  immigration  due  to  private  enterprise. 
It  seems  plain,  therefore,  that  the  Irish  people 
cannot,  without  a  very  gross  abuse  of  language, 
be  described  as  wholly  or  even  mainly  Celtic. 
It  is,  I  think,  equally  clear  that  the  non-Celtic 
portion  of  the  population  has  contributed  its 
full  share  both  to  the  political  and  to  the  social 
maladies  of  the  country.  At  a  very  early 
period  the  "  degeneracy,"  as  it  was  popularly 
called,  of  the  Anglo-Norman  colonists  attracted 
the  attention  and  excited  the  alarm  of  the 
government  ;  and  the  language  of  the  Statute  of 
Kilkenny,  and  of  the  numerous  acts  by  which 
its  leading  provisions  were  confirmed,  as  well 
as  the  proverbial  phrase,  "  ipsis  Hibernis 
Hiberniores,"  is  a  sufficient  proof  how  far  the 
mode  of  life  which  has  been  generally  described 
as  Celtic  was  from  being  confined  to  the 
aboriginal    inhabitants    of    the    country.^        In 

^  The  Statute  of  Kilkenny  was  edited  by  James  Hardiman  and 
published  by  the  Irish  Archaeological  Society  in  1 843.  The 
notes  contain  a  mass  of  interesting  information  concerning  the 
state  of  Ireland  in  the  middle  ages. 

"The  chiefest  abuses  which  are  now  in  that  realm  are 
grown  from  the  English  that  were,  but  are  now  much  more 
lawless  and  licentious  than  the  very  wild  Irish  ;  so  that,  as 
much  care  as  was  then  by  them  had  to  reform  the  Irish,  so 

7 


INTRODUCTION 

the  reign  of  Henry  VIII  the  most  formidable 
opposition  to  the  English  government  pro- 
ceeded from  the  greatest  of  the  Anglo-Norman 
houses,  the  Geraldines  of  Kildare.  Fifty  years 
later  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  head  of  a  younger 
branch  of  that  house,  was  the  leader  of  a  for- 
midable insurrection  against  the  government 
of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Under  the  first  two 
princes  of  the  House  of  Stuart  the  recusant 
party  in  the  Irish  parliament  was  led,  not  by  the 
descendants  of  the  Celtic  chieftains,  but  by  the 
barons  of  the  Pale.  Twice  during  the  seven- 
teenth century  the  Catholic  population,  includ- 
ing not  only  the  "  mere  Irish "  but  the 
"  degenerate  English,"  rose  in  arms  against  the 
newer  and  Protestant  colony,  and  established  an 
independent  government.  Those  risings  have 
often  been  described  as  Celtic  risings,  and  those 
governments  as  Celtic  governments.  But  a 
glance  at  the  names  of  the  members  of  the 
Confederation  of  Kilkenny  and  of  the  Dublin 
parliament  of  1689  will  suffice  to  show  that,  in 
both  instances,  the  leaders  were,  with  very  few 
exceptions,  men  of  Norman  or  Saxon  descent.^ 

much  and  more  must  now  be  used  to  reform  them." — Spenser's 
Fiew  of  the  Present  State  of  Ireland^  p.  1 01.  Cf.  Davies, 
Discovery^  p.  281. 

^  The  names  of  the  persons  who  composed  the  Confedera- 
tion of  Kilkenny  will  be  found  in  Gilbert's  History  of  the  War 
and  Confederation  in  Ireland.  Lists  of  the  members  of  the 
Irish  Parliament  of  1689,  both  Lords  and  Commons,  were 
published  in  London  in  that  year. 

8 


INTRODUCTION 

The  Williamite  conquest  was  followed  by  a 
century  of  political  tranquillity  ;  and  when 
political  life  began  to  revive  in  Ireland  it  was 
for  many  years  almost  confined  to  the  essentially 
Teutonic  province  of  Ulster.  The  United  Irish 
movement,  which  followed  upon  that  of  the 
Volunteers,  had  its  origin  in  the  same  quarter ; 
and,  although  religious  bigotry  induced  the 
province  in  which  the  movement  had  originated 
to  take  a  sudden  turn  during  the  civil  war  that 
followed,  it  was  in  the  counties  which  had  once 
formed  the  English  Pale  that  the  insurrection 
of  1798  assumed  its  most  formidable  aspect. 
And,  during  the  last  century,  there  has  never 
been  a  time  when  the  names  of  some  of  the 
most  influential  of  Irish  popular  leaders  have 
not  borne  unmistakable  testimony  to  their 
Saxon  origin. 

For  these  reasons  it  must,  I  think,  be  con- 
ceded that  what  is  popularly  called  the  dis- 
loyalty of  Ireland  cannot  be  ascribed  to  any 
irreconcilable  antipathy  between  the  Celtic 
and  Teutonic  races.  This  opinion  will  receive 
additional  confirmation  if  we  compare  the 
history  of  Ireland  with  that  of  other  Celtic  and 
non-Celtic  peoples.  In  Wales  and  in  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland,  the  aboriginal  Celtic 
population  has  received  far  slighter  infusions  of 
foreign  blood  than  in  Ireland ;  and  there  are 
probably,  even  in  England,  counties  which  con- 
tain   a   larger  proportion   of  Celtic  inhabitants 

9 


INTRODUCTION 

than  any  part  of  Ireland  outside  Connaught.^ 
It  might  have  been  expected,  therefore,  that 
all  these  regions  would  have  been  marked  in  a 
high  degree  by  the  anarchic  tendencies  which 
are  generally  supposed  to  be  inseparable  from 
the  Celtic  character.  Yet  neither  Wales 
nor  Cornwall  has,  in  modern  times  at  least, 
shown  any  very  decided  tendency  to  rebellion  ; 
while  the  people  of  the  Scottish  Highlands, 
although  for  a  long  time  very  turbulent,  have 
during  the  last  century  and  a  half  proved  at 
least  as  amenable  to  law  as  their  southern  and 
Teutonic  neighbours.  The  want  of  industrial 
capacity,  which  is  so  deplorable  a  characteristic 
of  the  Irish  middle  class,  is  not  found  among 
the  Welsh  ;  nor  does  the  propensity  to  agrarian 
crime,  which  is  the  most  flagrant  vice  of  the 
Irish  peasantry,  exist  among  the  Highlanders. 
Again,  when  we  are  told  that  among  a  Celtic 
people  the  centrifugal  tendencies  in  politics 
must  always  prove  stronger  than  the  centripetal, 
we  have  but  to  look  at  the  continent  of  Europe 
to  see  that  France,  which  is  usually  considered 
a  Celtic  country,  attained  to  a  degree  of  cen- 
tralization which  made  her  the  arbiter  of 
Europe  from  the  close  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
until  the  fall  of  the  Second  Empire ;  while  her 

^  "  It  is  quite  possible,  and  I  think  probable,  that  Ireland, 
as  a  whole,  contains  less  Teutonic  blood  than  the  eastern  half  of 
England,  and  more  than  the  western  half." — Huxley,  On  the 
Forefathers  of  the  English  People  [Anthropological  Review^  1870). 

10 


INTRODUCTION 

Teutonic  neighbour  continued  during  the  same 
period  to  be  a  mere  conglomeration  of  warring 
principalities.  Nor  has  their  alleged  incapacity 
for  organization  prevented  the  vast  majority  of 
Irishmen  from  attaching  themselves  w^ith  an 
unwavering  loyalty  to  the  most  highly  organized 
religious  system  which  the  world  has  yet  seen. 

On  the  other  hand,  disorders  essentially 
similar  to  those  of  Ireland  have  invariably 
been  found  in  every  community  which  has 
been  governed  as,  until  the  last  century  at  least, 
Ireland  was  avowedly  governed.  During  the 
two  centuries  which  followed  the  Norman 
conquest  outrages  essentially  similar  to  those  of 
the  Whiteboys  and  the  Ribbonmen,  were  of  daily 
occurrence  among  the  Anglo-Saxon  population 
of  England.^       Similar   outrages   have   in   more 

^  "  The  country  was  portioned  out  among  the  captains  of 
the  invaders.  Strong  military  institutions,  closely  connected 
with  the  institution  of  property,  enabled  the  foreign  conquerors 
to  oppress  the  children  of  the  soil.  A  cruel  penal  code, 
cruelly  enforced,  guarded  the  privileges,  and  even  the  sports, 
of  the  alien  tyrants.  Yet  the  subject  race,  though  beaten 
down  and  trodden  under-foot,  still  made  its  sting  felt.  Some 
bold  men,  the  favourite  heroes  of  our  oldest  ballads,  betook 
themselves  to  the  woods,  and  there,  in  defiance  of  curfew  laws 
and  forest  laws,  waged  a  predatory  war  against  their  oppressors. 
Assassination  was  an  event  of  daily  occurrence.  Many  Normans 
suddenly  disappeared,  leaving  no  trace.  The  corpses  of  many 
were  found  bearing  the  marks  of  violence.  Death  by  torture 
was  denounced  against  the  murderers,  and  strict  search  was  made 
for  them,  but  generally  in  vain  :  for  the  whole  nation  was  in  a 
conspiracy  to  screen  them." — Macaulay's  History  of  England^ 
chap.  I.      Cf.  Pike's  History  of  Crime  in  England^  I.  97-98. 

I  I 


INTRODUCTION 

recent  times  been  common  among  the  people  of 
Hungary,  of  Poland,  and  of  the  Christian 
provinces  of  Turkey.  But  the  most  striking 
parallel  is  unquestionably  furnished  by  the 
essentially  Teutonic  population  of  Southern 
Scotland.  Throughout  the  greater  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century  the  rulers  of  England, 
supported  by  a  large  majority  of  the  English 
people,  persisted  in  governing  Scotland  on  the 
same  principles  vv^hich,  down  to  a  much  later 
period,  they  continued  to  apply  to  Ireland.  No 
one  w^ho  has  studied  with  any  candour  the 
history  of  the  two  countries  can,  I  think,  have 
failed  to  be  struck  by  the  extreme  similarity  not 
only  in  the  nature  of  the  provocation  but  in  the 
nature  of  the  revenge.  In  race  the  two  peoples 
differed  widely.  The  policy  of  the  two  govern- 
ments was  substantially  the  same.  The  conduct 
of  the  two  peoples  was  substantially  the  same. 
It  seems  clear,  therefore,  that  the  conduct  of  the 
peoples  must  be  attributed  not  to  race  but  to 
the  policy  of  the  governments.^ 

These  considerations  appear  to  me  to  be  com- 
pletely subversive  of  what  has  been  called 
the  Celtophobic  theory  of  Irish  disturbances. 
National,  however,  are  distinct  from  racial 
characteristics  ;  and  I  should  be  the  last  to  deny 

^  See  an  admirable  article  by  Professor  Dicey  in  the 
Fortnightly  Review  ^or  1 88 1;  an  article  by  James  Godkin  in 
the  same  review  for  1867,  and  a  speech  by  Macaulay  on  the 
Irish  Church  in  1844. 

12 


INTRODUCTION 

the  existence  in  Ireland  of  a  very  distinct  national 
character,  and  of  very  distinct  national  vices. 
But  national  character  is,  to  a  great  extent,  the 
creature  of  circumstances,  and  is  capable  of 
slow,  but  almost  infinite  modification  ;  and  there 
are  few  errors  against  which  the  historian 
requires  to  guard  himself  more  carefully  than 
the  tendency  to  ante-date  ideas  and  habits  of 
life  which  have,  in  fact,  become  common  only 
in  recent  times.  The  modern  Irish  character 
has  been  formed  under  very  curious  and  very 
unfavourable  conditions,  which  it  will  be  the 
main  object  of  the  present  work  to  describe. 
At  present  I  will  only  say  that  the  faults  of  the 
Irish  people,  although  undoubtedly  very  grave, 
do  not  appear  to  me  to  be  precisely  those  which 
are  generally  attributed  to  them  by  English 
writers.  The  phrase,  "the  blind  hysterics  of 
the  Celt,"  has  become  proverbial  upon  the 
authority  of  a  poet  who  was  himself  one  of  the 
most  hysterical  of  mankind :  and  it  would  be 
idle  to  deny  that,  in  the  opinion  of  ninety-nine 
Englishmen  out  of  a  hundred,  an  undue  sub- 
ordination of  reason  to  emotion,  an  extravagance 
of  opinion  and  of  language,  a  want  of  moderation 
and  a  distaste  for  compromise,  have  been  the 
most  conspicuous  characteristics  of  the  Irish 
people.  I  should  be  the  last  to  pretend  that 
my  countrymen  have  been  wholly  free  from 
these  faults,  or  to  deny  that  they  have  exercised 
a  great  and  baneful  influence  upon  Irish  history. 

13 


INTRODUCTION 

It  ought,  however,  to  be  remembered  that  this 
instability  of  character  is  pecuharly  apt  to  re- 
veal itself  during  periods  of  intense  political 
excitement ;  and  that  in  Ireland  such  periods 
have  been  both  unusually  numerous  and  un- 
usually prolonged.  Yet,  in  spite  of  this  very 
serious  disadvantage,  it  is  extremely  doubtful 
whether,  in  this  respect.  Irishmen  compare  as 
unfavourably  as  is  generally  supposed  with  the 
majority  of  mankind.  The  political  and  in- 
dustrial circumstances  of  England  have  been,  to 
a  very  unusual  degree,  favourable  to  a  sober  and 
rational  standard  of  thought :  but  it  would  be 
easy  to  show  that,  whenever  any  great  question 
of  foreign  or  domestic  politics  has  touched  the 
dormant  emotions  of  the  English  people,  English 
orators,  pamphleteers  and  journalists  have  given 
vent  to  utterances  at  least  as  hysterical  as  any 
that  can  be  charged  against  their  "  Celtic " 
neighbours.  Few  people  who  remember  the 
paroxysms  of  excitement  into  which  great 
masses  of  Englishmen  were  thrown  by  the 
Home  Rule  agitation,  by  the  Boer  war,  and 
even  by  events  which  concerned  them  so  little 
as  the  massacres  in  Armenia  and  the  imprison- 
ment of  Captain  Dreyfus,  will,  I  think,  venture 
seriously  to  dispute  this  statement :  but,  since 
many  Englishmen  will  no  doubt  plead  that  these 
were  matters  which  called  for  a  display  of 
emotion  not  to  be  justified  by  anything  so 
trivial  as  the  misgovernment  of  Ireland,  I  will 

H 


INTRODUCTION 

cite  another  instance  in  which  their  prejudices 
are  less  likely  to  deflect  their  judgment.  I 
believe  that  no  one  who  has  studied  with  in- 
telligence and  candour  the  recent  utterances  of 
the  German  Anglophobe  press,  can  doubt  that  a 
purely  Teutonic  people  may  be  capable  of  a 
perversion  of  judgment  and  an  incontinence  of 
language  which  it  would  be  impossible  to 
surpass. 

If  we  turn  from  politics  to  that  sphere  of 
thought  in  which,  the  authority  of  reason  being 
in  abeyance,  the  play  of  the  emotions  is  least 
restrained,  we  may  say  that  an  intensely  hysteri- 
cal people  will  seldom  fail  to  adopt  an  intensely 
hysterical  creed.  Such,  however,  is  not  the 
character  of  that  Church  to  which,  in  spite  of 
the  strongest  temptations  to  apostasy,  the  great 
majority  of  Irishmen  have  continued  to  adhere. 
An  imposing  ceremonial  and  an  elaborately 
organized  hierarchy,  may  perhaps  provoke  a 
smile  from  the  philosopher  ;  but  they  are,  at 
least,  admirable  correctives  to  those  individual- 
istic and  introspective  tendencies  which  are 
the  almost  invariable  concomitants  of  religious 
hysteria :  and  the  Roman  Catholic  system,  on 
the  whole,  may  be  more  justly  accused  of  pro- 
ducing an  atrophy  of  the  religious  emotions 
than  of  stimulating  those  emotions  into  an  un- 
healthy activity.  On  the  other  hand,  extreme 
simplicity  of  worship  and  the  absence  of 
ecclesiastical  discipline,  by  driving  the  religious 

IS 


INTRODUCTION 

imagination  inward,  and  concentrating  the 
attention  of  the  individual  upon  his  personal 
prospects  of  salvation,  lead  almost  invariably,  at 
least  with  weak  natures,  to  a  state  of  morbid 
religious  excitement.  No  one  who  is  acquainted 
with  the  early  history  of  Quakerism,  or  of 
Methodism,  or,  to  come  nearer  to  our  own  time, 
of  the  Salvation  Army,  can,  I  think,  have  failed 
to  be  struck  by  this  tendency :  but,  although 
repeated  attempts  have  been  made  to  propagate 
those  forms  of  faith  in  Ireland,  they  have  been 
singularly  unsuccessful.  Many  causes  have  been 
assigned  for  their  failure ;  but  the  chief  cause 
has  undoubtedly  been  the  want  in  the  Irish 
character  of  the  susceptibility  to  violent  emotion 
which,  though  often  dormant,  exists  in  the  vast 
majority  of  Englishmen. 

The  mention  of  religion  suggests  inevitably  a 
second  theory  as  to  the  origin  of  the  misfortunes 
of  Ireland :  a  theory  which  was  at  one  time 
even  more  widely  held  than  the  former,  and 
which — although,  owing  to  the  general  decline 
of  the  theological  spirit,  it  has  lost  much  of  its 
old  vitality — is,  even  at  this  day,  by  no  means 
extinct.  If  this  opinion  be  correct,  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  is  the  source  of  all  evil ;  and 
is,  in  an  especial  degree,  responsible  for  the 
disorders  of  Ireland.  By  great  numbers  of 
Englishmen,  and  by  not  a  few  English-minded 
Irishmen,  this  doctrine  is  held,  not  as  an 
opinion    which    requires    to    be    justified    by 

i6 


INTRODUCTION 

evidence,  but  as  an  article  of  faith,  into  the 
grounds  of  which  it  would  be  impious  to 
inquire.  For  many  other  Englishmen,  who  are 
themselves  indifferent  to  theological  disputes, 
the  same  doctrine  has  a  strong  attraction,  since 
it  not  only  absolves  their  country  from  all 
blame,  so  far  as  her  relations  with  Ireland  are 
concerned,  but  even  entitles  her  to  a  consider- 
able amount  of  praise  :  and  they  are  naturally 
averse  to  scrutinizing  too  closely  the  grounds 
of  an  opinion  so  flattering  to  their  national 
self-esteem.  It  should  be  added  that  the  theory 
is  one  which  has,  for  the  superficial  observer  at 
least,  a  certain  plausibility.  It  is  corroborated 
by  the  unquestionable  facts  that,  while  England 
and  Scotland  have  been  prosperous,  Protestant 
and  tranquil,  Ireland  has  been  poor.  Catholic 
and  disturbed :  that,  in  more  than  one  im- 
portant crisis  of  Irish  history,  religion  has  been, 
at  least  apparently,  connected  with  revolutionary 
and  anti-English  movements :  and  that,  while 
the  influence  of  the  Catholic  clergy  has  been 
frequently  exerted  on  the  side  of  disorder,  the 
majority  of  the  Protestant  population  have 
habitually  supported  the  cause  of  England 
against  their  own  countrymen.  Nevertheless, 
a  closer  examination  of  the  course  of  Irish 
history  will,  I  think,  convince  the  candid 
inquirer  that  this  doctrine,  like  the  former, 
is  either  wholly  false  or  at  least  greatly  exag- 
gerated.      We    have     but    to     glance     at     the 

17  c 


INTRODUCTION 

English  State  Papers  of  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII  to  perceive  that  the  anarchy,  which 
was  afterwards  attributed  to  religious  dis- 
sensions, existed  in  and  was  peculiar  to  Ireland, 
when  the  unity  of  Christendom  was  still 
unbroken  :  ^  while  neither  then  nor  at  any 
subsequent  period  were  the  evils  which  in 
Ireland  are  habitually  ascribed  to  the  influence 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  priesthood  to  be  found 
in  the  most  Catholic  parts  of  the  continent.  It 
is  no  doubt  true  that  the  teaching  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  is  in  some  respects  unfavour- 
able to  the  formation  of  industrial  habits  :  ^  but 
the  example  of  Belgium  is  sufficient  to  show 
that  this  circumstance  need  not  by  itself  have 
prevented  Ireland  from  attaining  to  a  very  high 

^  See  especially  the  remarkable  paper  on  the  state  of 
Ireland  (i  5 1 5)  which  stands  first  among  the  printed  State  Papers 
of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  This  subject  will  be  examined 
in  detail  in  the  first  and  third  chapters  of  the  present  work. 

^  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  injuriously  affected  the 
economic  condition  of  many  or  most  of  the  countries  in  which 
it  has  been  dominant  (i)  by  encouraging  an  indiscriminating 
"  charity  "  :  (2)  by  offering  an  uncompromising  opposition  to 
what  is  technically  called  "  usury."  Much  valuable  evidence 
on  the  latter  subject  will  be  found  in  Lecky's  History  of  Rational- 
ism, II.  265.270.  (See  also  Mill's  Political  Economy,  p.  559.) 

The  teaching  of  the  Protestant  churches  on  these  and 
kindred  subjects  has  not  been  much  more  enlightened  :  but 
it  has  been  far  less  consistently  carried  out  in  practice.  It 
must  in  fairness  be  acknowledged  that  the  attitude  adopted 
by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  upon  both  these  points,, 
whether  it  be  wise  or  unwise,  is  in  strict  accordance  with, 
the  precepts  of  her  Founder. 

18 


INTRODUCTION 

degree    of   commercial    prosperity.      Nor    is   it 
easy  for  those  who  find  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
doctrines  the   source   of  those  agrarian  crimes, 
which  were  so  long  the   bane  and  the  disgrace 
of  Ireland,  to  explain  the  complete  absence  of 
similar  disorders  among  the  intensely  Catholic 
peasantry  of  France.      During  the   last  years  of 
Henry  VIII,  and  throughout  the  entire   reign 
of  his  successor,   when   zeal  for  the    reformed 
faith  began  for  the   first  time  to  influence  the 
policy  of  English   statesmen,   the   Irish   chiefs, 
with    scarcely    an    exception,    showed    a    most 
philosophical  indifference  to  doctrinal  disputes  : 
and  it  was  under  the  rule  of  the  Catholic  Mary 
that  the  policy  of  confiscation  and  colonization, 
which  was  afterwards  carried  out  in   the   name 
of  Protestant  ascendancy,  was  inaugurated.    The 
Elizabethan     conquest     was     contemporaneous 
with  the  great  religious  wars  which  devastated 
a   large   part   of  the   continent,    and   has    been 
described  by   many  writers  as  a  mere   episode 
in  the  general  struggle  :  but   the   supporters  of 
the   Government    were,    with    few    exceptions. 
Catholics,    and    religious    fanaticism    does    not 
appear   to   have  exercised  any  considerable  in- 
fluence    upon     Irish    politics     until    after    the 
plantation  of  Ulster.  ^     The  foolish  and  wicked 

^  "  Of  religious  parties,  properly  so-called,  there  were  none 
during  this  (the  Tudor)  period.  No  Protestant  party  existed, 
for  there  were  no  Protestants  except  the  agents  of  the 
Government  and  the  official  episcopacy.     There  were  Catholic 

19 


INTRODUCTION 

attempt  of  the  Long  Parliament  to  exterminate 
the  Catholics  eventually  gave  a  religious 
character  to  the  civil  war  vs^hich  broke  out 
in  1641  ;  but  the  insurrection  was,  in  its 
earlier  stages,  essentially  agrarian  ;  and  the 
attempt  of  the  insurgents  to  procure  the  alliance 
of  the  Scotch  Covenanters,  who  of  all  the 
colonists  were  the  most  intensely  hostile  to 
their  religion,  is  a  conclusive  proof  that  at 
this  time  secular  predominated  over  theological 
motives.  The  toleration  act  of  1689,  passed 
by  the  Irish  Parliament  during  the  brief  period 
of  their  ascendancy,  affords  still  stronger  evi- 
dence of  the  indifference  of  our  ancestors  to 
sectarian  considerations.  In  more  recent  times 
the  same  tendency  has  been  even  more  strongly 
marked.  The  agrarian  disturbances  which 
occupy  so  prominent  a  place  in  modern  Irish 
history  have  proceeded  quite  as  frequently  from 
the  Protestants  of  Ulster  as  from  the  Catholics 
of  the  southern  provinces  ;  ^  and  there  has  never 

parties,  for  all  parties  were  Catholic,  even  that  which  through- 
out supported  the  acts  of  a  government  which  was  politically 
Protestant  :  but  there  was  no  Catholic  party — no  party 
whose  special  aim  and  distinguishing  character  were  the 
maintenance  of  the  Catholic  Church,  A  religious  party  can 
only  exist  as  the  correlative  of  another  religious  party  which 
advocates  an  opposing  creed.  The  creation  of  the  Protestant 
was  necessary  for  the  development  of  the  Catholic  party,  and, 
until  the  date  of  the  plantation,  no  Protestant  party  existed." 
Richey's  Short  History  of  the  Irish  People^  p.  616. 

^  See    the   valuable    work   of  Sir  G.   C.   Lewis,   On   Irish 
Disturbances^  passim. 

20 


INTRODUCTION 

been  a  time  since  the  Volunteer  movement  when 
some  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  Nationalist 
politicians  have  not  been  Protestants.  If  we 
turn  from  politics  to  social  life,  it  would  be 
hard  to  name  any  section  of  the  community  by 
whom  what  are  commonly  reputed  the  worst 
vices  of  the  Irish  character  have  been  more 
offensively  displayed  than  by  the  landlords  and 
officials  of  the  eighteenth  century,  at  a  time 
when  the  penal  laws  had  made  those  classes 
exclusively  Protestant.^  Nor  have  the  Orange- 
men of  our  own  day,  although  their  hostility  to 
their  Catholic  countrymen  has  won  for  them  a 
singular  reputation  for  loyalty,  shown  them- 
selves one  whit  more  submissive  than  the  latter 
to  any  law  which  has  not  been  framed  and 
administered  with  an  exclusive  regard  to  their 
own  interests. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  unquestionably  true 
that  the  Catholic  clergy  have,  in  recent  times 
especially,  exercised  a  great  and  often  pernicious 
influence  upon  Irish  affairs.  There  are,  indeed, 
few  things  more  disastrous  to  a  civilized  com- 
munity than  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
ecclesiastical  order  to  encroach  upon  the  pro- 
vince  of  the   civil  magistrate,  and    to   regulate 

^  Arthur  Young's  Tour  in  Ireland^  II.  1 26-128,  241. 

Many  curious  anecdotes  relating  to  the  conduct  of  the  Irish 
country  gentlemen  during  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  will  be  found  in  Sir  Jonah  Harrington's  Memoirs  of  the 
Irish  Nation  ;  but  the  statements  of  this  writer  must  always 
be  received  with  caution. 

21 


INTRODUCTION 

secular  politics  in  accordance  with  their  own 
theories.  But  such  attempts,  although  to  some 
extent  encouraged  by  the  importance  which  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  attached  to  the  priestly 
office,  are  by  no  means  either  peculiar  to  Roman 
Catholic  countries  or  a  necessary  result  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  system.  A  speculative  belief 
in  the  authority  of  the  church  will  not  prevent 
an  educated  people  from  treating  ecclesiastical 
pretensions  with  contempt.  A  speculative 
belief  in  the  right  of  private  judgment  will  not 
prevent  an  ignorant  people  from  submitting  to 
ecclesiastical  dictation  with  servility.  In  our 
own  time,  among  the  more  civilized  of  the 
nations  which  are  called  Roman  Catholic,  an 
intelligent  and  patriotic  laity  has  reduced  the 
priesthood  to  a  position  of  harmless  obscurity. 
In  the  seventeenth  century  priestly  arrogance 
and  priestly  tyranny  assumed  their  worst  form 
among  the  Huguenots  of  France  and  among 
the  Covenanters  of  Scotland.^ 

It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  the  enormous 
power  of  the  Irish  priesthood  cannot  be 
solely  ascribed  to  the  nature  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  creed.  It  is  a  cause  of  the  degrada- 
tion of  Ireland ;  but  it  is  not  the  only  nor 
the  ultimate  cause.  It  is  not  in  itself  an 
explanation  of  the  phenomena  which  it  is  our 
business  to  examine :   but  rather  a  part  of  those 

^Buckle's  History  of  Civilization^  vol.    ii,  pp.   51-73,  vol. 
iii,  pp.  191-279. 

22 


INTRODUCTION 

phenomena  which  itself  requires  to  be  ex- 
plained. Meanwhile,  without  anticipating  what 
I  shall  hereafter  have  to  say  at  greater  length, 
I  must  point  out  that  this,  like  many  other 
features  of  Irish  society,  has  frequently  been 
antedated  by  writers  who  have  examined  the 
history  of  past  ages  in  the  light  of  the  ideas 
which  have  become  prevalent  in  their  own 
time.  In  the  middle  ages,  when  the  ecclesi- 
astical power  was  at  its  height  in  England  and 
on  the  continent,  as  well  as  throughout  the 
whole  course  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Irish 
clergy  appear  to  have  exercised  little  or  no  in- 
fluence upon  public  affairs.^  Their  power  dates 
from  the  abolition  of  the  tribal  system  and  the 
ruin  of  the  chiefs,  who  had  up  to  that  time 
taken  the  lead  in  the  hereditary  war  against 
England :  and  it  was  immensely  increased, 
during  the  next  century,  by  the  long  struggle 
in  the  course  of  which  the  cause  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  became  identified  with  that 
of  civil  liberty  and  national  independence. 
The  subsequent  policy  of  England,  although 
ostensibly  aimed  at  the  extirpation  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion,  was  in  reality  very 
favourable  to  the  authority  of  the  priesthood. 
The    enormous    confiscations,    which     reduced 

^  The  evidence  upon  which  I  have  formed  this  opinion  will 
be  found  in  chaper  iii.  of  this  work.  Brewer  [Calendar  of 
Carew  MSS.y  preface  to  vol.  ii.)  has  some  excellent  remarks 
on  this  subject. 

23 


INTRODUCTION 

the  greater  part  of  the  native  aristocracy  to 
penury,  threw  the  leadership  of  the  national 
party  into  the  hands  of  the  priests ;  and  the 
evil  w^as  increased  and  perpetuated  by  the  laws 
which  incapacitated  Catholics  from  purchasing 
and  inheriting  landed  property.  Another  part 
of  the  penal  code,  by  depriving  the  Catholics 
of  all  possibility  of  education,  condemned 
them  to  a  state  of  ignorance  very  favourable  to 
ecclesiastical  encroachments  :  while  a  third,  by 
persecuting  the  clergy  and  also  oppressing  the 
people,  drove  the  two  classes  into  an  intimate 
alliance  based  upon  a  common  hostility  to  the 
authority  of  the  state.  At  the  same  time  a 
series  of  laws,  framed  in  the  supposed  interest 
of  English  manufacturers,  effectually  prevented 
the  development  of  that  industrial  spirit  which 
has  in  happier  countries  proved  the  most 
powerful  corrective  to  the  spirit  of  superstition. 
And,  at  a  later  period,  the  maintenance  of  re- 
ligious disabilities,  sufficient  to  irritate  but 
wholly  inadequate  to  convert,  and  a  succession 
of  foolish  and  wicked  attempts  at  educational 
proselytism,  have  kept  religious  questions  in  the 
front  of  Irish  politics  and  given  a  most  un- 
healthy stimulus  to  religious  passions;  while  the 
anti-national  feelings,  so  insultingly  paraded  by 
a  large  section  of  Irish  Protestants,  have  placed 
a  most  formidable  weapon  in  the  hands  of  those 
whose  aim  it  is  to  identify  patriotism  with 
bigotry,    and    the    liberation    of    Ireland    with 

24 


INTRODUCTION 

the    aggrandisement    of    the    Roman    Catholic 
Church. 

These  considerations  will  suffice  to  show  how 
great  an  influence  the  rulers  of  Ireland  have  ex- 
ercised upon  the  development  of  the  national 
religion.  That  their  influence  upon  other  sides 
of  the  national  character  has  been  equally  great, 
I  hope  to  make  clear  in  a  later  part  of  this  work. 
At  present  I  will  only  point  out  the  essential 
difference  in  this  respect  between  the  govern- 
ment of  a  self-governed  community  and  that  of 
a  dependency  ;  understanding  by  the  former 
term  not  necessarily  a  community  which  pos- 
sesses representative  institutions,  but  a  commu- 
nity whose  institutions,  whatever  may  be  their 
nature,  have  arisen  within  itself,  and  have  not 
been  imposed  upon  it  from  without.  The 
government  of  such  a  community  may  have 
many  faults,  but  it  can  scarcely  be  radically  bad. 
Its  mere  existence  is  to  some  extent  its  justifica- 
tion ;  since  such  existence,  when  prolonged  for 
any  considerable  period,  implies  the  approval, 
or  at  least  the  acquiescence  of,  at  any  rate,  a 
large  proportion  of  its  subjects.  Political  insti- 
tutions will,  in  such  a  community,  be  the  effect 
rather  than  the  cause  of  public  opinion,  although 
they  will  eventually  react  upon  it,  and  cannot 
long  continue  to  exist  in  violent  conflict  with  it. 
Should  the  rulers  of  such  a  community  seek 
either  to  maintain  abuses  which  the  public  mind 
has  outgrown,  or  to  hurry  on  reforms  for  which 

25 


INTRODUCTION 

the  public  mind  is  not  yet  ripe,  they  will  inevit- 
ably provoke  a  reaction  w^hich  will  prove  fatal 
to  the  objects  which  they  have  at  heart.  The 
case  of  a  nation  whose  government  is  imposed 
upon  it  by  foreigners  and  maintained  by  foreign 
bayonets  is  widely  different.  In  this  case,  and 
in  this  case  alone,  institutions  may  exist  which 
bear  no  relation  to  public  opinion  ;  which  do 
not  spring  from  it  ;  which  are  powerless  to 
direct  it  ;  which  satisfy  no  aspiration  ;  which 
inspire  no  loyalty  ;  and  which,  if  they  are  to 
obtain  even  a  fleeting  security,  must  derive  that 
security  from  the  dreadful  indifference  of  despair. 
Such  institutions  may  in  outward  form  be  iden- 
tical with  those  under  which  more  fortunate 
peoples  have  attained  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
liberty,  of  prosperity,  and  of  civilization.  But 
they  will  not  take  root  in  an  uncongenial  soil  ; 
they  become  withered  themselves  and  wither  all 
around  them  :  political  capacity  is  stunted  ; 
public  spirit  decays  ;  law  is  thwarted  by  the 
hatred  of  the  people  ;  and  liberty  is  crushed  by 
the  oppression  of  the  government.  It  is  then 
that  we  find  nations  suffering  from  the  most 
frightful  form  of  political  disease — suppressed 
revolution.  Statesmanship,  it  has  been  said,  is 
the  art  of  avoiding  revolution,^  and  the  definition 
is  just  ;  but  to  suppress  revolution  is  not  to  avoid 

^  "  Let  us  never  glorify  revolution.  Statesmanship  is  the 
art  of  avoiding  it." — Goldwin  Smith,  Three  English  States- 
meriy  p.  1. 

26 


INTRODUCTION 

it.  It  is  better  that  popular  discontent  should 
be  appeased  by  timely  concessions  than  that  it 
should  vent  itself  in  a  convulsion  which  dissolves 
the  foundations  of  society.  But  it  is  better  that 
it  should  vent  itself  in  one  convulsion,  however 
terrible,  than  that  it  should  continue  to  smoulder 
in  the  public  mind,  paralysing  or  perverting  the 
national  energies,  vitiating  the  whole  course  of 
opinion,  and  breeding,  during  generation  after 
generation,  an  endless  succession  of  calamities 
and  crimes.^ 

^  "  A  starving  population,  an  absentee  aristocracy,  and  an 
alien  Church,  and,  in  addition,  the  weakest  executive  Govern- 
ment in  the  v^^orld — that  was  the  Irish  question.  Well,  then, 
what  would  honourable  gentlemen  say  if  they  were  reading 
of  a  country  in  that  position  ?  They  would  say  at  once, '  The 
remedy  is  revolution.''  But  the  Irish  could  not  have  a  revolu- 
tion ;  and  why  ?  Because  Ireland  was  connected  with  another 
and  a  more  powerful  country.  What,  then,  was  the  conse- 
quence ?  The  connection  with  England  became  the  cause  of 
the  present  state  of  Ireland.  If  the  connection  with  England 
prevented  a  revolution,  and  a  revolution  was  the  only  remedy, 
England  logically  stood  in  the  odious  position  of  being  the 
cause  of  all  the  misery  in  Ireland.  What,  then,  was  the  duty 
of  an  English  minister  ?  To  effect  by  his  policy  all  those  changes 
which  a  revolution  would  effect  by  forced — Benjamin  Disraeli. 
Speech  in  the  House  of  Commons,  February  i6, 1844. 


27 


CHAPTER  I 

THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
power  of  the  English  "Lords  of  Ireland"  had 
reached  its  nadir.  Of  the  colonists  who,  two 
hundred  years  earlier,  had  been  thickly  scat- 
tered over  more  than  half  the  island,  some  had 
been  expelled  by  the  native  clans,  and  others 
had  adopted  the  native  customs :  while  even 
those  among  the  great  Anglo-Norman  lords 
who  still  retained  some  traces  of  their  English 
manners  had  ceased  to  render  more  than  a 
nominal  obedience  to  the  English  Government. 
"The  King's  subjects" — those  of  the  settlers, 
that  is  to  say,  who  continued  steadfast  in  their 
allegiance — were  confined  to  the  four  shires  of 
Louth,  Meath,  Dublin  and  Kildare :  beyond 
those  limits  a  multitude  of  independent  chief- 
tains of  native  or  Norman  descent  carried  on  a 
succession  of  internecine  wars. 

"There  be  more  than  sixty  countries,  called 
regions,  in  Ireland,  inhabited  with  the  King's  15 15 
Irish  enemies,"  says  an  official  document  com- 
posed in  1 51  5,  "some  regions  as  big  as  a  shire, 
some  more,  some  less,  unto  a  little ;  some  as  big 
as  half  a   shire,  and   some   a   little  less ;   where 

29 


THE   LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

reigneth  more  than  sixty  chief  captains,  whereof 
some  calleth  themselves  kings,  some  kings'  peers, 
in  their  language,  some  princes,  some  dukes, 
some  archdukes,  that  liveth  only  by  the  sword, 
and  obeyeth  to  no  other  temporal  person,  but 
only  to  himself  that  is  strong  :  and  every  of  the 
said  captains  maketh  war  and  peace  for  himself, 
and  holdeth  by  sword,  and  hath  imperial  juris- 
diction within  his  room,  and  obeyeth  to  no 
other  person,  English  or  Irish,  except  only  to 
such  persons  as  may  subdue  him  by  the  sword."  ^ 
The  tribes  described  by  this  writer  as  "the 
King's  enemies" — the  phrase  is  eloquently  ex- 
pressive of  the  constitutional  theory  which  lay 
at  the  root  of  Irish  anarchy — had  during  two 
centuries  been  steadily  gaining  ground  upon  the 
invaders.  In  the  time  of  Henry  VIII  they 
held  almost  all  Ulster,  about  three-fourths  of 
Connaught,  the  north  and  west  of  Munster,  the 
midlands  of  Meath  and  Leinster,  and  that  part 
of  the  east  coast  which  lies  between  Dublin  and 
Wexford.  O'Neil,  the  most  powerful  of  the 
northern  chieftains,  reigned  over  the  vast 
region  of  Tyrowen,  including  not  only  the 
county  now  known  by  that  name  but  con- 
siderable parts  of  Londonderry  and  Armagh. 
O'Hanlon  in  the  south  of  Armagh  and  O'Cahan 
in  the  north  of  Londonderry  were  his  "uriaghts" 
or  vassals  :  while  a  younger  branch  of  his  house 
had    taken    possession    of    Clandeboye    on    the 

^  "State  of  Ireland  and  Plan  for  its  Reformation,"  1515. 

30 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

confines  of  Down  and  Antrim.  O'Donel,  who 
had  long  contended  with  O'Neil  for  the  sup- 
remacy in  Ulster,  ruled  over  Tyrconnel,  now  the 
county  of  Donegal :  O'Doherty  in  the  extreme 
north  maintaining  a  precarious  independence  by 
allying  himself  alternately  with  each  of  the 
more  powerful  chieftains.  The  Maguires  held 
Fermanagh,  the  Magennises  the  south  of  Down, 
and  the  Macmahons,  who  were  said  to  be 
of  Anglo-Norman  origin,  Irish  Uriel.  The 
various  septs  of  the  O'Conors,  the  O'Conor 
Roe,  the  O'Conor  Don,  and  the  O'Conor  Sligo, 
with  the  O'Haras,  MacDermots,  O'Kellys  and 
other  native  tribes,  were  scattered  over  Sligo, 
Roscommon,  and  the  east  of  Galway ;  while 
another  chief  of  the  name  had  established  him- 
self in  Offaly,  then  a  part  of  the  county  of 
Kildare.  To  the  north  and  east  of  these  the 
territories  of  the  O'Rourkes,  O'Reillys  and 
O'Farrells  formed  a  debatable  land  between 
Connaught,  Ulster  and  Meath,  through  which 
the  tribes  of  the  two  former  provinces  poured 
to  the  invasion  of  the  Pale.  The  O'Flahertys 
maintained  their  ground  in  Connemara,  and 
the  O'Malleys  on  the  coast  of  Mayo.  The 
O'Briens,  sometime  kings  of  Munster,  although 
shorn  of  their  dominions  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Shannon,  still  reigned  in  Thomond,  and 
occasionally  crossed  the  river  to  annoy  the 
English  settlers  in  Limerick  and  Tipperary.  In 
Cork  and  Kerry  the  lands  of  the  MacCarthys  and 

31 


THE   LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

O'Sullivans  lay  inextricably  mingled  with  those  of 
the  Desmond  Geraldines  ;  while  the  broken  rem- 
nant of  the  tribes,  which  had  once  occupied  Meath 
and  Leinster,  stretched  in  a  broad  belt  along  the 
southern  and  western  borders  of  the  Pale.^ 

The  Celtic  chiefs,  however,  were  not  the  only, 
nor  perhaps  the  most  formidable,  enemies  with 
whom  the  Dublin  government  had  to  reckon. 
Mixed  with  them  in  each  of  the  four  provinces, 
though  in  very  different  proportions,  were  to  be 
found  "the  King's  English  rebels" — the  des- 
cendants of  the  great  Anglo-Norman  lords,  who 
in  the  troubled  times  of  the  fourteenth  century 
had  virtually,  and  in  some  cases  avowedly,  re- 
nounced their  allegiance  to  the  English  govern- 
ment. "  Also,"  the  report  continues,  "  there  is 
more  than   thirty  great  captains  of  the  English 

^  Ibid.  A  Geographical  Account  of  Ireland,  15 14  (MS. 
R.O.).  Map  by  Dunlop  in  Lane  Poole's  Historical  Atlas. 
O'Rourke's,  O'Reilly's  and  O'Farrell's  countries  correspond 
approximately  to  the  modern  counties  of  Leitrim,  Cavan  and 
Longford.  The  distribution  of  these  districts  among  the 
different  provinces  was  long  unsettled.  In  the  report  of  151 5 
all  these  territories  are  assigned  to  Connaught.  In  Haynes* 
Description  of  Ireland  in  1598,  pp.  89-90,  Cavan  and  Long- 
ford are  reckoned  as  parts  of  Meath.  In  1569,  when  Con- 
naught  was  first  divided  into  counties,  it  included  Longford,  and 
did  not  include  Leitrim.  Spenser  says  that  the  Macmahons 
"  were  anciently  English  :  to  wit,  descended  from  the  Fitz 
Ursulas,  which  was  a  noble  family  in  England." — View  of  the 
Present  State  of  Ireland^  p.  103.  Fynes  Moryson  and  other 
writers  of  the  sixteenth  century  make  a  similar  statement ;  but 
modern  research  has  shown  that  its  truth  is,  to  say  the  least, 
very  doubtful.      See  Shirley's  Account  of  Farney^  pp.  147-150. 

32 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

noble  folk,  that  followeth  the  same  Irish  order, 
and  keepeth  the  same  rule,  and  every  of  them 
maketh  war  and  peace  for  himself,  without 
any  licence  of  the  king,  or  of  any  other 
temporal  person,  save  to  him  that  is  strongest, 
and  of  such  that  may  subdue  them  by  the 
sword.  "^ 

In  Ulster,  west  of  the  Bann,  the   Normans, 
even  when  their  power  was  at  its  height,   had 
never  been  able  to  obtain  a  footing.      Down  and 
Antrim,  on    the   other  hand,  had  been  thickly 
colonized  by  De  Courcy  and  De  Lacy  during 
the  reigns  of  Henry  II  and  his  two  successors  ; 
and  at   the   end   of  the  thirteenth  century   the 
population   of  those  two   counties  was  scarcely 
less  completely  English  than  that  of  Meath  or 
Dublin.      But  the  invasion  of  Edward  Bruce  had     13 15 
fatally   weakened,   and  the   murder  of  the   last 
Earl    of  Ulster,  a   few  years  later,  had  utterly     1333 
destroyed    the    northern   colony.      By   law,  the 
estates   of  the   deceased   nobleman  should   have 
descended    to   his   daughter,   a   child   who    was 
afterwards  married  to  Lionel,  Duke  of  Clarence. 
But  the  Earl  had  held  his   lands  by  the  sword, 
and  neither  Celts  nor  Normans  were  disposed  to 
submit  to  the   pretentions   of  one  who  was  at 
once  a  female,  an  infant,  and  an  absentee.     The 
O'Neils  crossed  the  Bann  and  seized  Clandeboye, 
of  which  the  entire  population  had  lately  been 

^  State  of  Ireland,  15 15. 

33  D 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

exterminated  by  the  Bruces/  The  Savages  of 
the  Ards,  the  Mandevilles  of  DufFerin,  and  the 
Bissets  in  the  Glens  of  Antrim,  maintained  their 
ground  for  some  generations  longer.  But  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII  the  Savages  had  "  become 
mere  Irish  ";  the  Mandevilles  had  been  expelled, 
and  their  lands  "  usurped  "  by  the  natives  ;  and 
the  vast  inheritance  of  the  Bissets  had  passed  by 
marriage  to  the  MacDonnells  of  the  Isles,  "wild 
Scots,"  who,  if  they  differed  at  all  from  their 
Irish  neighbours,  differed,  in  the  opinion  of  all 
respectable    Englishmen,   for  the  worse."     The 

^  A  Breviate  of  the  Gettbig  of  Ireland  and  of  the  Decay  of  the 
Same.  By  Patrick  Finglas,  one  of  the  Barons  of  the  Exchequer. 
Spenser,  View  of  the  Present  State  of  Ireland^  pp.  53-54. 
Davies,  Discovery  of  the  True  Causes  why  Ireland  was  never 
subdued^  pp.  299-303.  Articles  by  A.  Hume  in  the  Ulster 
Journal  of  Archeeology^  vols.  I,  IV.  There  are  several  versions 
of  Finglas's  pamphlet.  The  earliest,  dated  151 5,  is  preserved 
in  the  Lambeth  Library,  and  is  printed  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Calendar  of  Carew  MSS.  Another  version,  also  in  the  Lam- 
beth Library,  is  printed,  where  it  differs  from  the  former  in 
the  foot-notes  to  the  Carew  Calendar.  A  third  version,  differ- 
ing in  several  important  particulars  from  both  the  preceding, 
w^as  printed  by  Walter  Harris  in  1747,  from  a  MS,  w^hich  had 
been  in  the  possession  of  Sir  James  Ware.  Harris  does  not 
state  vi^hat  became  of  the  MS.  which  he  transcribed,  but  it 
agrees  verbatim  with  a  document  in  the  British  Museum 
{Harleian  MSS.  35/5).  The  date  of  this  edition  is  1 529. 
There  is  also  a  copy  in  the  Record  Office,  dated  1533. 

"  Haynes'  Description  of  Ireland  in  1598.  A  full  account 
of  the  Scottish  settlements  will  be  found  in  Hill's  MacDonnells 
of  Antrim.  "  Whereas  a  company  of  Irish  Scots,  otherwise 
called  Redshanks,  daily  cometh  into  the  north  parts  of  Ireland, 
and  purchaseth   castles  and  piles  upon  the  sea-coast  there,  so 

34 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

only  portions  of  Dov/n  and  Antrim  in  which  the 
crown  retained  any  vestige  of  authority  were  the 
barony  of  Lecale  in  the  former,  and  the  walled 
town  of  Carrickfergus  in  the  latter  county. 
Lecale,  like  Wexford  at  the  opposite  extremity 
of  the  island,  formed  an  outlying  portion  of  the 
Pale,  from  which  it  was  separated  by  Magennis's 
country,  communication  with  the  capital  being 
principally  maintained  by  sea.^  Carrickfergus, 
which  is  said  to  have  been  built  by  John  de 
Courcy  in  the  twelfth  century,  had  been  cap- 
tured and  partly  burned  by  the  Scots  in  1316, 
and  again  in  1386  :  and  it  was  afterwards 
captured  a  third  time  by  Brian  O'Neil  in  1573. 
With  these  exceptions  it  was  never  out  of  the 

as  it  is  thought  that  there  be  at  this  present  above  the  number 
of  two  or  three  thousand  of  them  within  this  realm  :  it  is 
meet  that  they  be  expulsed  from  the  said  castles,  and  order 
taken  that  none  of  them  be  permitted  to  haunt  nor  resort  into 
this  country  :  the  rather  because  they  greatly  covet  to  popu- 
late the  same  :  being  most  vile  in  their  living  of  any  nation 
next  Irishmen." — Devices  for  the  Reformation  of  Ireland,  1 542. 
"  There  be  certain  Scots  that  dwelleth  in  the  north  country 
by  the  sea-side,  that  have  had  certain  territories  of  certain  gentle- 
men by  marriage,  and  have  continued  and  kept  their  possession 
these  300  years,  and  are  now  natural  Irishmen  and  subjects." 
Devices  for  the  Government  of  Ireland,  1559.  Opposite  this 
paragraph  Sir  John  Alen  wrote  in  the  margin,  "  A  lie." 

Mn  1552  Cusack  described  Lecale  as  "for  English  free- 
holders and  good  inhabitance  as  civil  as  few  places  in  the 
English  Pale." — Carew  MSS.  In  1586  the  inhabitants  were 
said  to  be  "  somewhat  degenerate  and  in  poor  estate,  yet  they 
hold  still  their  freeholds." — Bagnall's  Description  of  Ulster. 
Ibid. 

35 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

possession  of  the  English.  It  was  reputed  the 
strongest  fortress  in  the  country,  and  was  the 
only  Ulster  constituency  which  sent  representa- 
tives to  parliament  before  the  seventeenth 
century.^ 

In  Connaught,  where  the  colonists  were  much 
more  numerous  than  in  Ulster,  the  crown  had 
long  ceased  to  exercise  any  effective  authority. 
In  the  reign  of  Henry  III  Richard  de  Burgh 
had  received  a  grant  of  the  entire  province  and, 
after  a  good  deal  of  desultory  fighting,  had 
made  himself  master  of  the  greater  part  of 
Galway  and  Mayo.  His  son,  Walter,  married 
Maud,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Hugh  de  Lacy, 
Earl  of  Ulster,  and  succeeded,  in  right  of  his 
wife,  to  the  vast  estates  of  her  father  in  Down 
and  Antrim.  His  son,  Richard,  commonly 
called  the  "Red  Earl,"  advanced  the  Anglo- 
Norman  power  in  Ireland  to  the  highest  point 
to  which  it  was  ever  destined  to  attain,  but  the 
assassination  of  his  grandson  led,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  the  destruction  of  the  Ulster  settlement. 
The  Connaught  de  Burghs,  or  Burkes,  as  they 
were  generally  called,  were  not  more  willing 
than  the  Celts  of  Ulster  to  acknowledge  the 
feudal  superiority  of  their  infant  kinswoman. 
1333  Sir  William  and  Sir  Edmund  de  Burgh,  cousins 
german   of  the   murdered   nobleman,    resolved, 

^  McSkimin's  History  of  Carrickfergus,  pp.  ii,  18,  19,  23. 
Parliament  list  of  1560  printed  in  the  Irish  Archaeological 
Society's  Tracts,  vol.  ii,  pp.  134-138. 

36 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

with  the  assent  of  their  tenants  and  the  support 
of  their  Celtic  neighbours,  to  partition  his 
estates  between  them.  The  elder  brother  seized 
Galway  and  the  younger  took  possession  of 
Mayo.  Their  action  amounted  to  a  repu- 
diation of  the  law  of  primogeniture,  and  an 
adoption  of  the  Irish  custom  of  tanistry :  and 
they  could  only  hope  to  maintain  their  position 
by  definitely  severing  their  connection  with  the 
English  government.  In  order  to  identify 
themselves  the  more  thoroughly  with  the 
native  chieftains  they  renounced  their  English 
surnames,  and  called  themselves  respectively 
MacWilliam  Uachtar  and  MacWilliam  lochtar, 
or  the  Upper  and  Nether  MacWilliam.  The 
example  of  this  powerful  family  was  universally 
followed  by  the  Englishry  of  the  western  pro- 
vince. The  Berminghams,  Barons  of  Athenry, 
styled  themselves  MacFerris  ;  the  Dexters, 
Macjordan ;  the  Nangles,  MacCostello ;  and 
the  Prendergasts,  MacMaurice.^  With  their 
Irish  names  the  settlers  adopted  the  Irish  dress, 
the  Irish  manners,  and  the  Irish  language. 
The  crown   threatened,  but   was    powerless   to 

^  State  of  Ireland,    1515.      Finglas,  Brevtate.      Davies,    p. 

304- 

How  completely  the  Burkes  had  become  identified  with  the 
native  Irish  appears  from  an  enactment  of  the  town  of  Galway 
in  the  year  1518,  prohibiting  the  citizens  from  receiving  into 
their  houses  any  persons  bearing  the  names  Burke,  MacWilliam 
or  Kelly. — Hardiman,  History  of  Galway^  p.  20. 

37 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

carry  out  its  threats.'  The  "rebels"  were 
surrounded  by  O'Conors,  O'Flahertys  and 
O'Briens,  and  were  separated  from  the  obedient 
districts  by  the  broad  stream  of  the  Shannon 
and  the  impenetrable  bogs  and  forests  of  central 
Leinster.  Two  hundred  years  had  yet  to  elapse 
before  the  representative  of  an  English  king 
again  ventured  to  set  foot  in  Connaught. 

South  and  east  of  the  Shannon  the  amalga- 
mation of  the  races  had  been  less  complete. 
The  Anglo-Norman  lords  in  Munster  and 
Leinster  governed  their  territories  by  powers 
originally  derived  from  the  crown,  and,  although 
practically  independent  of  the  Viceroy,  were  re- 
garded both  by  their  vassals  and  by  the  govern- 
ment rather  as  feudal  noblemen  than  as  Celtic 
chieftains.  They  retained  their  English  titles  ; 
their  estates  descended  from  father  to  son  after 
the  English  fashion  ;  and,  although  the  King's 
writ  did  not  run  in  their  dominions,  the  earls 
themselves  appointed  sheriffs  or  "  seneschals," 
and  administered  justice  according  to  the  forms 
of  the  English  common  law."  Munster,  if  we 
exclude  Clare,  which  in  the  sixteenth    century 

^  In  1 340  Edward  III  issued  an  order  for  the  "  re- 
sumption "  of  all  lands  granted  to  Englishmen  in  Ireland. — 
Grace's  Annals^  p.  132.  This  arbitrary  act,  which  was  quite 
inoperative,  seems  to  have  been  intended  as  an  answer  to  the 
revolt  of  the  Burkes  and  other  Anglo-Irish  nobles. 

^  Fifth  Report  of  the  Deputy-Keeper  of  the  Public  Records  of 
Ireland.  Appendix  III,  pp.  33-38.  Calendar  of  Irish  State 
PaperSy  1 603-1606,  edited  by  Russell  and  Prendergast,  p.  xiv. 

38 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

was  usually  accounted  part  of  Connaught,  was 
virtually  divided  between  two  great  houses — the 
Butlers  and  the  Desmond  Geraldines.  In  law 
the  palatine  jurisdiction  of  the  former  family 
appears  to  have  been  confined  to  a  part  of 
Tipperary,  and  that  of  the  latter  to  Kerry  and 
a  small  portion  of  west  Cork.  In  fact,  how- 
ever, the  Desmonds  had  extended  their  sway 
over  the  whole  of  Cork,  Kerry  and  Limerick, 
and  even  over  the  western  half  of  Waterford, 
and  the  Butlers  over  all  Tipperary  and  Kil- 
kenny. In  1330,  when  the  colony  was  still 
suffering  from  the  shock  of  the  Scotch  invasion, 
Maurice  FitzGerald,  who  in  the  preceding  year 
had  been  created  Earl  of  Desmond,  is  said  to 
have  introduced  "  the  abominable  order  of  coyne 
and  livery,"  to  which  English  writers  were 
accustomed  to  attribute  the  ruin  of  the  Anglo- 
Norman  settlement,  and  by  that  means  to  have 
reduced  a  great  part  of  Munster  to  his  obedience. 
The  example,  so  profitable  to  themselves  and  so 
pernicious  to  the  commonwealth,  was  speedily 
followed  by  the  Earl  of  Ormond  in  Kilkenny 
and  Tipperary,  and  by  the  Earl  of  Kildare  in 
the  Pale.^  At  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century 
almost  all  the  colonists  in  Ireland,  the  burgesses 
of  a  few  walled  towns  excepted,  were  the  sub- 
jects of  one  or  other  of  these  three  noblemen. 
The     cadet     branches    of   the    Geraldines — the 

^  Finglas,  Breviate.    Davies,  pp.  300-303.   Ware's  Antiquities 
of  Ireland^  ch.  12. 

39 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

FitzGeralds  of  Decies,  the  Knight  of  the  Glen, 
the  Knight  of  Kerry,  and  the  White  Knight — 
as  well  as  the  Barrys  of  Barrymore  and  Butte- 
vant,  the  Roches  of  Fermoy,  the  Burkes  of 
Castleconnell — a  branch  of  the  great  Galway 
family  who  had  crossed  the  Shannon,  and  estab- 
lished themselves  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river 
about  nine  miles  above  Limerick — and,  generally 
speaking,  all  the  Englishry  of  south  Munster, 
acknowledged  the  feudal  superiority  of  the  Earls 
of  Desmond  :  the  Poers  of  Curraghmore,  in  the 
eastern  half  of  Waterford,  alone  maintaining 
their  independence  by  means  of  a  close  alliance 
with  the  rival  house  of  Butler.  The  Earls  of 
Ormond  enjoyed  a  similar  supremacy  over  the 
Graces,  Purcells,  and  other  English  families  in 
the  counties  of  Kilkenny  and  Fethard,  with 
claims,  which  were  stubbornly  disputed,  over 
the  purely  Celtic  districts  of  Upper  Ossory  and 
Ely  O'Carroll.^     The  Earls  of  Kildare  were  the 

^  State  of  Ireland,  1515.  Fethard  is  a  town  in  Tipperary  ; 
but  the  phrase,  "the  county  of  Fethard,"  is  used  in  the  State 
Papers  to  signify  apparently  the  modern  county  of  Tipperary, 
less  the  county  of  the  Cross  of  Tipperary.  See  Annuary  of  the 
Kilkenny  Archceological  Society^  1870,  p.  222.  "  McGillapatrick, 
the  ancient  possessor  of  Upper  Ossory,  and  now  Baron  of  it, 
would  never  consent  to  be  of  that  county  [Kilkenny],  for 
the  native  malice  between  them  [the  Earl  of  Ormond  and 
himself],  the  one  having  been  utter  enemy  tovthe  other  ;  but 
pleadeth  a  prerogative  by  custom  to  be  out  of  all  shireground 
and  to  be  sheriff  himself  for  the  execution  of  the  civil  causes, 
and  for  criminal  causes  he  rather  sorteth  himself  to  be  of  the 
new  [Queen's]  county,  and  so  in  all  criminal  causes  to   be 

40 


THE   LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

feudal  lords  of  more  than  half  the  Pale,  and 
exercised  besides  an  extensive  jurisdiction  over 
the  Irish  of  the  southern  and  western  marches/ 
The  southern  and  south-western  districts  of 
Leinster,  including  Leix,  Catherlagh,  and  the 
greater  part  of  Wexford,  had  been  recovered  by 
the  Moores,  the  Kavanaghs,  and  other  native  1327- 
tribes,^  whose  territories  separated  the  dominions     ^342 

tried  by  the  late  planted  English  than  by  their  ancient  enemies 
of  the  county  of  Kilkenny." — Description  of  Ireland  in  1598, 
p.  65. 

"Near  unto  this  [the  King's]  County  is  Ely,  or  O'Carroll's 
country,  which  the  Earls  of  Ormond  have  of  long  time 
challenged  to  have  belonged  to  their  County  Palatine  of 
Tipperary  ;  but  by  reason  of  the  great  dissensions  that  have 
been  betw^ixt  the  House  of  Ormond  and  the  O'CarroUs,  they 
would  never  yield  to  be  of  that  county." — Ibid.^  p.  87.  In 
1602  Upper  Ossory  was  definitely  transferred  from  Kilkenny 
to  Queen's  County,  and  Ely  from  Tipperary  to  King'sCounty. 

^  Lands  of  the  late  Earl  of  Kildare,  1537.  Carew  MSS. 
Among  the  chiefs  who  were  tributary  to  the  house  of  Kil- 
dare were  MacMurrough  (Wexford  and  Carlow),  O'Byrne 
and  O'Toole  (Wicklow),  O'Moore,  O'Dunn  and  O'Dempsey 
(Queen's  County),  O'Conor  and  O'MoUoy  (King's  County), 
O'MelaghlinandMcGeoghegan  (Westmeath),  O'Farrel  (Long- 
ford), O'Rourke  (Leitrim),  O'Reilly  (Cavan),  and  MacMahon 
(Monaghan). — Rental  Book  of  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  1 5 1 8.  Kil- 
kenny J rcheeo logical  Society's  Journal^  1858-9,  p.  309,  1862-3, 
pp.   118-135. 

^"1342.  Parum  ante  Natale  Domini  obiit  Leyserth 
O'Morthe,  vir  potens,  dives  et  locuples,  et  in  gente  sua 
honoratus.  Hie  fere  omnes  Anglicos  de  terris  suis  et 
hereditate  violenter  ejecit  :  nam  uno  sero  viii  castra  Angli- 
corum  combussit  :  et  castrum  nobile  de  Dunmaske  domini 
Rogeri  de  Mortuo  Mari  destruxit,  et  dominium  sibi  patriae 
usurpavit :  de  servo  dominus,  de  subjecto  princeps,  efFectus." 

41 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

of  the  house  of  Ormond  from  the  scanty  and 
steadily  dwindling  district  which  in  the  preced- 
ing century  had  acquired  the  name  of  "  the 
English  Pale."  **  There  is  no  folk  daily  sub- 
ject to  the  King's  laws  but  half  the  county 
of  Uriel,  half  the  county  of  Meath,  half  the 
county  of  Dublin,  half  the  county  of  Kil- 
dare,"^  says  the  report  of  1515  ;  and  the 
complaint  is  echoed  by  every  writer  on  Irish 
affairs  during  the  first  quarter  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  obedient  districts  were,  it  is 
true,  somewhat  larger  than  the  language  of  the 
report  would  lead  a  modern  reader  to  suppose. 
It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  old  county  of 
Uriel  included  not  only  Louth  but  Monaghan  :^ 
that  it  was  only  in  the  thirty-fourth  year  of 
Henry  VIII  that  Meath  was  divided  into  East 
and  West  Meath :  ^  that  Wicklow  was  not 
severed  from  Dublin  until  after  the  accession  of 
James  I  :  ^  and  that,  before  the  formation  of  the 
King's  and  Queen's  Counties,  OfFaly,  Leix,  and 
the  adjacent  districts  were  regarded  as  forming 
part  of  the  county  of  Kildare.'^ 

Clyn's  Annah^  p.  29.  "  Lagenienses  sibi  regem  fecerunt 
Donald  MacMurrogh "  (1327).  Grace's  Annah.  p.  106, 
Finglas,  Breviate.      Davies,  p.  302. 

^  State  of  Ireland,  151  5. 

^  Spenser,  View  of  the  Present  State  of  Ireland.  Note  to 
Ware's  Edition. 

^34  Henry  VIII,  c.  i.  ^  Davies,  Discovery^  p.  333. 

^  Ware,  Antiquities^  ch.  5.  Falkiner's  Illustrations  of  Irish 
History^  p.  114. 

42 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

Each  of  these  four  shires  was  divided  into 
two  parts,  an  English  portion  or  "maghery," 
of  which  the  limits,  at  one  time  almost  co- 
extensive with  those  of  the  modern  counties  of 
Louth,  Meath,  Dublin  and  Kildare,  had  lately 
been  much  reduced:  and  a  "march"  or  Irish 
district,  which,  although  nominally  subject  to 
the  sheriff  of  the  adjoining  county,  was  the 
scene  of  a  constant  guerilla  warfare  not  unlike 
that  which  raged  along  the  Northumbrian 
border  before  the  union  of  the  English  and 
Scottish  crowns/  In  Great  Britain,  however, 
the  debatable  land  between  the  two  kingdoms 
was  very  small,  and  the  havoc  wrought  by  the 
borderers  relatively  slight :  in  Ireland,  where 
the  marches  were  as  large,  at  least,  as  the  civil 
districts,  the  insurgents  frequently  carried  fire 
and  sword  to  the  very  gates  of  the  capital. 

Wexford,  the  county  in  which  the  Anglo- 
Norman  adventurers  had  first  landed,  is  some- 
times reckoned  as  a  part  of  the  Pale.  The 
southern   half  of  this  county  had   been  thickly 

^  "  In  the  reign  of  King  Henry  VII  there  passed  an 
act  which  is  called  the  Act  of  Marches  and  Maghery,  that 
such  as  took  coyne  in  the  Maghery,  or  English  Pale,  should 
be  esteemed  felons."  Articles  exhibited  by  Oliver  Sutton 
against  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  December  2,  156$.  This  act  is 
not  in  the  Statute  book. 

In  1 5 15  Dundalk,  Derver,  Ardee,  Sydan,  Kells,  Dangan, 
Kilcock,  Claine,  Naas,  KilcuUen,  Ballymore-Eustace,  Rath- 
more,  Rathcoole,  Tallaght,  and  Dalkey,  were  the  frontier 
towns;  but  the  boundaries  were  in  a  constant  state  of  flux. 
State  of  Ireland,  1 5 15. 

43 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

colonized  by  Strongbow  and  Robert  FitzStephen, 
and  the  colonists  had  retained  their  English 
characteristics  more  completely  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  island  except  Fingal.  The 
English  language  had  long  been  exclusively 
spoken,  and  had  only  recently  been  superseded 
by  a  patois  or  "  gallimaufreie  "  of  both  languages, 
"so  as  commonly  the  inhabitants  of  the  meaner 
sort  speak  neither  good  English  nor  good  Irish." 
But  this  English  district  was  separated  by  the 
territories  of  the  O'Byrnes,  the  O'Tooles,  and 
the  Kavanaghs  from  the  main  body  of  the  Pale, 
with  which,  like  Lecale  in  the  north,  it  could 
only  communicate  by  sea.^ 

^  "The  county  of  Wexford  was  the  first  country  where  the 
English  set  foot  and  conquered,  as  hath  been  seen  before. 
This  shire  is  the  largest  of  any  one  in  that  country,  and  one 
part  thereof  still  inhabited  by  the  ancient  Irish,  which  was  the 
cause  that  Sir  Henry  Sidney  and  Sir  William  Drury  would 
have  made  two  other  new  shires  within  it.  The  north  [sic) 
part  should  have  been  called  Ferns,  and  that  to  the  south  (izV),  near 
to  Dublin,  Wicklow  ;  but,  finding  that  there  were  not  sufficient 
and  sure  gentlemen  to  be  sheriffs,  nor  freeholders  to  make  a 
jury  for  Her  Majesty,  it  hath  been  let  fall.  Notwithstanding, 
it  hath  a  kind  of  division  in  itself,  for  the  south  part,  as  the 
most  civil  part,  is  contained  within  a  river  called  Pill,  where 
the  ancientest  gentlemen,  descended  of  the  first  conquerors,  do 
inhabit :  the  other  also,  without  the  river,  is  inhabited  by  the 
original  Irish,  the  Kavanaghs,  Murroughs,  and  Kinsellaghs, 
who  possess  the  woody  part  of  the  country,  and  yet  are  daily 
more  and  more  scattered  by  our  English  gentlemen,  who  en- 
croach upon  them,  and  plant  castles  and  piles  within  them." — 
A  Description  of  the  Provinces  of  Ireland  [1580?]  Carew 
MSS.y  vol.  635,  f.  54.  Not  in  the  printed  Calendar.  Cf, 
Stanihurst,  p.  4. 

44 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

The  author  of  the  report,  which  I  have 
already  so  often  quoted,  tells  a  story  of  St. 
Brigid,  that  she  "used  to  inquire  of  her  good 
angel  many  questions  of  secrets  divine:  and  1515 
among  others  she  inquired:  'Ofvs^hat  Christian 
land  was  most  souls  damned  ? '  The  angel  showed 
her  a  land  in  the  west  part  of  the  world.  She 
inquired  the  cause  why  ?  The  angel  said,  for 
there  the  Christian  folk  died  most  out  of  charity. 
She  inquired  the  cause  why  ?  The  angel  said, 
for  there  is  most  continual  war,  root  of  hate  and 
envy,  and  of  vices  contrary  to  charity  :  and 
without  charity  the  souls  cannot  be  saved.  And 
the  angel  did  show  her  the  lapse  of  the  souls  of 
the  Christian  folk  of  that  land,  how  they  fell 
down  into  hell  as  thick  as  any  hail  shower." 
There  could  be  no  doubt,  in  the  opinion  of  this 
writer,  that  Ireland  was  the  land  which  the 
angel  understood:  "for  there  is  no  land  in  the 
world  of  so  long  continual  war  within  himself, 
ne  of  so  great  shedding  of  Christian  blood,  ne  of 
so  great  robbing,  spoiling,  preying,  and  burning, 
ne  of  so  great  wrongful  extortion  continually  as 
Ireland.  Wherefore,  it  cannot  be  denied  by 
very  estimation  of  man  but  that  the  angel  did 
understand  the  land  of  Ireland."  ' 

Whether  our  ancestors  actually  suffered  for 
their  crimes  in  another  world,  as  this  writer 
believed,    it    is    not    my    purpose    to    inquire  : 

^  State  of  Ireland,  15 15. 

45 


THE   LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

but  his  picture  of  their  terrestrial  condition 
is,  unhappily,  as  well  authenticated  as  it  is 
painful. 

The  laws  of  England  are  said  to  have  been 
introduced  into  Ireland  in  the  twelfth  century, 
but  those  laws  applied  only  to  the  English  colo- 
nists, and  extended  only  to  those  parts  of  the 
island  which  had  been  divided  into  counties 
after  the  English  fashion.  The  native  popula- 
tion, dwelling  for  the  most  part  beyond  these 
limits,  neither  acknowledged  the  authority  of 
the  law  nor  received  its  protection.  "  The 
mere  Irish,"  says  Sir  John  Davies,  "  were 
not  only  accounted  aliens  but  enemies,  and 
altogether  out  of  the  protection  of  the  law, 
so  that  it  was  no  capital  offence  to  kill 
them."^ 

Had  the  Celts  of  Ireland,  like  their  kindred 
in  the  Scottish  Highlands,  been  confined  to  a 
particular  part  of  the  island,  and  separated  from 
the  invaders  by  a  definite  frontier,  their  exclu- 
sion from  the  protection  of  the  law  need  not 
seriously  have  disturbed  the  general  tranquillity 
of  the  country.  Had  they,  like  the  Saxons  in 
England,  been  completely  subjugated,  the  gradual 
fusion,  which  never  fails  to  take  place  between 
races  occupying  the  same  territory,  and  the 
sense  of  common  interests  must  have  led  at 
length  to  the  growth  of  a  composite  nationality. 

^  Discovery^  p.  264. 

46 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

The  actual  course  of  events  was  very  different. 
The  native  clans,  who  were  neither  subdued  nor 
reconciled,  were  locally  intermixed  with  the 
settlers,  from  whom,  nevertheless,  they  con- 
tinued to  be  morally  and  legally  divided.  Under 
these  circumstances  the  diversity  of  laws  gave 
rise  inevitably  to  a  chronic  warfare,  which  lasted 
without  intermission  from  the  twelfth  to  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  during  which  Ireland 
sank  steadily  lower  and  lower  in  the  scale  of 
civilization. 

In  order  to  escape  from  a  condition  which 
was  universally  felt  to  be  intolerable,  the  Irish 
chiefs  had  repeatedly  petitioned  that  the  benefit 
of  the  law  might  be  extended  to  themselves  and 
their  countrymen,  and  with  these  petitions  the 
kings  of  England  had  generally  been  anxious 
to  comply  ;  but  every  attempt  at  conciliation 
had  hitherto  been  defeated  by  the  passive 
resistance  of  the  great  Anglo-Irish  lords,  whose 
power  and  consequence  depended  on  the  con- 
tinuation of  disturbances  which  it  was  their 
ostensible  duty  to  suppress.  The  protection  of 
English  law  was  indeed  granted  as  a  special 
compliment  to  the  five  families  which,  before 
the  invasion,  had  enjoyed  the  rank  of  provincial 
kings  ;  and  "  charters  of  denization  "  were  occa- 
sionally conceded  to  individuals  who  had  some 
peculiar  claim  upon  the  gratitude  of  the  colonial 
government  ;  but  these  isolated  acts  of  favour 
or  justice  served   only   to  emphasize  the   more 

47 


THE   LORDSHIP    OF   IRELAND 

strongly  the  general  degradation  and   outlawry 
of  the  native  population.  ^ 

Very  naturally,  therefore,  that  population  con- 
tinued to  use  the  Brehon  law,  which  had  been 
in  force  among  their  ancestors  since  a  period 
before  the  dawn  of  recorded  history.  The  code, 
which  was  an  object  of  unmixed  aversion  to 
English  statesmen,  had  not  originated  in  legisla- 
tion ;  but  consisted,  like  the  English  common 
law,  of  a  body  of  immemorial  usages,  modified, 
extended  and  explained  by  the  interpretations  of 
a  long  succession  of  native  lawyers.  It  is  said 
to  have  been  revised  and  reduced  to  writing 
shortly  after  the  introduction  of  Christianity  in 
the  first  half  of  the  fifth  century  :  nor,  although 
the  traditional  story  contains  some  obviously 
mythical  episodes,  is  there  any  reason  to  doubt 
its  substantial  truth. ^  The  Brehon,  like  all 
archaic  codes,  had  been  originally  connected 
with  religious  beliefs  and  ceremonies  ;  and 
when  those  beliefs  and  ceremonies  had  become 
obsolete  it  must  necessarily  have  stood  in  need 
of  considerable  alteration.  ,From  the  fifth  to 
the  sixteenth  century  it  underwent  little  formal 
change  :   but  its  provisions  were  tacitly  adapted 

^  'Discovery^  pp.  261-268.  Davies  attributes  this  narrow 
policy  to  "the  pride,  covetousness,  and  ill  counsel  of  the 
English  planted  here,  which  in  all  former  ages  have  been  the 
chief  impediments  of  the  final  conquest  of  Ireland,"  p.  281. 

2  Brehon  LawSy  I.,  3.  Cf.  Maine,  Lectures  on  the  Early  His- 
tory of  Institutions^  p.  2 1 . 

48 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

by  the  Brehon  lawyers  to  meet  new  contin- 
gencies. The  most  important  features  of  the 
code,  however,  and  those  which  most  excited 
the  indignation  of  English  writers,  were  not 
distinctively  Irish,  but  had  been  common  at 
some  period  of  its  history  to  every  portion  of 
the  Aryan  race.  Among  the  Irish,  as  among 
all  nations  in  a  similar  stage  of  civilization,  the 
idea  of  the  state,  and  the  correlative  idea  of 
crime  as  an  offence  against  the  community, 
were  unknown  :  the  Brehon  law,  regarding  all 
injuries  as  torts,  professed  not  to  inflict  punish- 
ment, but  merely  to  award  compensation.^ 
Hence  the  payment  of  the  "  eric "  or  blood- 
money,  an  arrangement  which,  originally 
introduced  to  limit  the  mischievous  practice  of 
private  retaliation,  marked  a  distinct  advance 
upon  the  anarchic  system  which  it  superseded  ; 
but  which  Englishmen,  who  uniformly  test  the 
institutions  of  foreign  nations  by  the  standard 
of  their  own  country,  believed  to  be  nothing 
better  than  an  elaborate  contrivance  for  the 
composition  of  felonies.^  It  is  not  surprising 
that  the  writers  who  indulged  in  this  un- 
measured vituperation  of  a  custom  which  they 
did  not  take  the  pains  to  understand,  should  have 
been  unaware  that  a  similar  practice  had  once 
prevailed  among  their  own    ancestors :    for  on 

^  Brehon  Laws^  III,  Ixxxii,  cxxi. 

^  Spenser,  p.  39.     Davies,  p.  290.     Moryson,  Itinerary^  pt. 
iv,  bk.  ii,  ch.  5. 

49  E 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

the  institutions  of  those  ancestors  they  looked 
back  with  an  ignorant  contempt.  But  it  is 
surely  strange  that,  in  the  age  which  witnessed 
the  great  revival  of  classical  learning,  the 
thoughts  of  men  should  not  have  reverted  to 
the  day  when  the  earliest  of  recorded  litigants 
"  contended  for  the  eric  of  a  murdered  man."  ^ 
While  the  quasi-criminal  portion  of  the 
Brehon  code  thus  incurred  the  moral  repro- 
bation of  English  lawyers,  the  Irish  law  of  real 
property  was  no  less  offensive  to  the  same  class 
upon  a  different  ground.  An  Irish  chief  was 
not,  it  must  be  remembered,  a  mere  land-owner, 
but  an  official  with  important  military  and  ad- 
ministrative duties  :  and  those  duties  could  only 
be  performed  by  a  man  of  mature  years,  and 
great  mental  and  bodily  vigour.  Under  these 
circumstances  a  strict  observance  of  the  rule  of 
hereditary  succession  was  impossible,  the  sim- 
plicity of  Celtic  manners  not  allowing  the 
clumsy  and  artificial  expedient  of  a  regency. 
On  the  death  of  a  chief  his  eldest  son,  if  of 
full  age  and  otherwise  eligible,  was  usually 
acknowledged  as  his  successor ;  but,  if  the 
latter  was  a  child,  the  chiefship  passed  to  a 
more  distant  but  duly  qualified  relative :  and  in 
any  case  the  formal  consent  of  the  clan  was 
required.  In  order  to  minimize — for  it  was 
impossible  altogether  to  avert — the  danger  of  a 

Svo    S'av8/3€S    €veiKiov    eiveKa   ttoivtJs    dvSpos     aTroKTafievov. 

///W,  xviii,  498. 

50 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

disputed  succession,  a  "  tanist "  or  successor- 
designate  was  frequently  elected  during  the 
lifetime  of  a  chief,  and,  like  the  latter,  was 
assigned  a  portion  of  the  tribal  lands  for  his 
maintenance.  To  English  officials,  trained  in 
an  exaggerated  respect  for  primogeniture  and 
hereditary  right,  this  system  appeared  mis- 
chievous and  anarchic  in  the  extreme ;  and,  as 
the  English  power  extended,  it  led  in  one 
instance  after  another  to  the  most  serious  com- 
plications. The  crown  persisted  in  regarding 
the  lands  of  an  Irish  tribe  as  the  private  property 
of  the  chief,  which  might  be  forfeited  by  his 
misconduct,  and  which,  if  not  so  forfeited,  must 
descend  to  his  legitimate  heir.  The  tribesmen 
no  less  stubbornly  asserted  that  they  had  a  right 
to  choose  their  own  chiefs,  and  that  those  chiefs 
could  not  forfeit  lands  in  which  they  had  only 
a  life  interest.  To  the  misunderstandings  which 
thus  arose  must  be  attributed  some  of  the  most 
bloody  rebellions  in  Irish  history.^ 

If  the  custom  of  tanistry  excited  the  violent 
hostility  of  English  statesmen,  the  semi-com- 
munistic tenure  known  as  Irish  gavelkind  was 
even  more  repulsive  to  them.  Although  private 
property  in  land  had  existed  in  Ireland  from  a 
very  early  period,  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the 
land    belonging  to  an  Irish   sept   was  common 

^  Brehon  Laws^  II,  279.  Spenser,  pp.  42-43.  Ware, 
Antiquities^  ch.  II.  Moryson,  Itinerary,  pt.  iv,  bk.  ii,  ch.  5; 
bk.  V,  ch.  5. 

51 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

property,  and  as  such  was  liable  to  periodical  re- 
distribution. Before  the  Norman  invasion  such 
redistributions  seem  to  have  taken  place  only 
at  long  intervals,  and  to  have  been  occasioned 
principally  by  the  grov^th  of  population.  In 
the  sixteenth  century,  however,  they  appear  to 
have  become  very  common,  especially  in  the 
case  of  septs  which  bordered  upon  the  English 
settlements,  and  of  which  the  boundaries  were 
in  a  constant  state  of  flux  ;  and  they  had  a  great 
and  pernicious  eflFect  in  retarding  the  develop- 
ment of  the  country.^ 

Two  other  usages,  which,  although  of  Celtic 
origin,  had  been  very  generally  adopted  by  the 
colonists,  incurred  the  same  condemnation.  That 
close  attachment  between  the  chief  and  his 
humbler  clansmen,  which  was  so  essential  to 
the  stability  of  the  tribal  system,  was  secured 
and  strengthened  by  the  customs  of"  fosterage  " 
and  "  gossipred."  By  the  former  custom  the 
child  of  a  chief  was  at  a  very  tender  age  en- 
trusted to  some  member  of  the  clan,  who 
became  responsible  for  his  education,  and  ever 
after  adhered  to  him  with  the  most  passionate 
fidelity  :  by  the  latter  the  chief  would  frequently 
accept  the  office  of  sponsor  to  some  child  of 
humble  rank,  who  was  thenceforth   considered 

^  Brehon  Laws,  III,  53  ;  IV,  7,  9.  Davies,  Second  Letter  to 
the  Earl  of  Salisbury^  p.  386.  Ware,  Antiquities^  ch.  11. 
Tanistry  and  gavelkind  were  finally  abolished  in  the  reign  of 
James  I.    Davies,  Report  des  Cases  et  Matters  en  Ley^  {{.  28-42. 

52 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

as  having  a  special  claim  upon  his  protection. 
To  statesmen,  eager  above  all  things  for  the  com- 
plete and  rapid  anglicization  of  the  island,  the 
artificial  relationships  thus  created  were  doubly 
hateful  :  first,  as  strengthening  the  tribal  system, 
which  it  was  their  main  object  to  destroy ;  and 
secondly,  as  having  contributed  more  effectively 
than  even  the  inter-marriage  of  the  races  to 
what  they  arrogantly  termed  the  "  degeneracy  " 
of  the  English  colony.  ^ 

But  it  was  only  in  the  remote  regions  of 
Ulster  and  Connaught  that  the  Brehon  code 
survived  in  its  integrity,  the  sub-division  of  those 
provinces  into  counties — a  necessary  preliminary 
to  the  introduction  of  English  administrative 
machinery — dating  only  from  the  second  half 
of  the  sixteenth  century."  In  Munster  and 
Leinster,  on  the  other  hand,  the  feudal  system 
had  been  introduced  more  than  three  centuries 
earlier,  and  had  neither  superseded  the  tribal 
system  nor  amalgamated  with  it.  The  Nor- 
man lords  and  their  retainers  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  the  plains  ;  the  native  tribes  had  been 
driven  into  the  woods,  the  bogs,  and  the 
mountains.  ^     There,    engaged    in    a    perpetual 

^Brehon  Laws^  11,  147,  349.  Ware,  Antiquities^  ch.  1 1, 
Spenser,  p.  106.  Davies,  pp.  296-297.  Moryson,  Itinerary^ 
pt.  iv,  bk.  ii,  ch.  5  ;  bk.  v,  ch.  5.  Camden,  Britannia. 
Hardiman,  Statute  of  Kilkenny. 

^  Report  of  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  1 562. — Carew  MSS.  Davies, 

p.  325. 

^  Fordun*s  Scoticronicon^  II,  261. 

53 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

warfare  with  a  stronger  race,  cut  off  from 
all  the  influences  of  civilization,  and  finding 
their  only  security  against  oppression  in  a 
poverty  which  offered  no  temptation  to  the 
oppressor,  they  had  rapidly  acquired  the  habits 
of  banditti ;  and  when,  after  the  lapse  of  a 
century  and  a  half,  they  recovered  a  great  part 
of  their  old  inheritance,  they  brought  back  those 
habits  to  the  fertile  regions  from  which  they 
had  been  expelled.  The  Irish  tribes  in  the 
south  and  east  of  the  island  were  little  better 
than  bands  of  outlaws  living  under  the  nominal 
rule  of  a  government  which  did  not  pretend  to 
protect,  but  was  occasionally  able  to  punish 
them.  The  Norman  lords,  in  the  same  districts, 
added  the  exactions  of  a  feudal  baron  to  those 
of  a  tribal  chief,  combining  whatever  was  most 
iniquitous  and  tyrannical  in  both  systems.  The 
population  of  the  two  southern  provinces  was 
neither  wholly  English  nor  wholly  Irish.  The 
races  were  locally  inter-mingled ;  and,  where 
races  are  locally  inter-mingled,  neither  tra- 
ditional animosities  nor  legislative  enactments 
have  ever  proved  an  effective  barrier  against 
inter-marriage.  In  Ireland  such  marriages  had 
always  been  common,  especially  in  the  south- 
eastern counties :  but  they  were  forbidden  by 
law,  and  the  offspring  of  them  were  deemed 
illegitimate.  Hence  arose  a  half-caste  population 
which,  although  outside  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
English  government,  had  never  been  completely 

54 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

organized  on  a  tribal  basis.  Over  this  population, 
protected  neither  by  English  law  nor  by  Irish 
custom,  the  Earls  of  Desmond,  Kildare  and 
Ormond  exercised  a  despotic  authority.  The 
impositions  known  as  "coyne  and  livery," 
which  had  been  introduced  by  the  first  Earl  of 
Desmond  some  two  centuries  earlier,  afford  a  1329 
typical  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
Brehon  usages  were  perverted  by  the  degene- 
rate English.  By  the  custom  known  as 
"coinmed,"  an  Irish  chief  was  permitted  to 
demand  from  his  clansmen  free  quarters  for  a 
limited  number  of  armed  retainers  on  certain 
stated  days  in  each  year.  The  Anglo-Irish 
adopted  the  custom,  but  disregarded  the  limita- 
tions. They  billeted  their  troops  not  only  on 
their  own  tenants  but  upon  all  other  persons 
within  reach  of  their  power,  increased  their 
numbers,  and  prolonged  their  extortions  with- 
out any  regard  to  the  decisions  of  the  native 
lawyers.^  Owing  partly  to  these  exactions, 
partly  to  the  everlasting  feud  between  the  Earls 
of  Ormond  and  Desmond,  a  great  part  of  Mun- 
ster  was  turned  into  a  wilderness.  An  English 
traveller,  who  visited  the  territories  of  the  latter 

^  For  "coinmed"  see  Brehon  LawSy  II,  233,  257,  259,  and 
for  "  coyne  and  livery  "  Finglas,  Spenser,  Davies,  and  the  State 
Papers^  passim.  Davies,  who  confuses  "  coinmed  "  with  "  coyne 
and  livery,"  says  that  the  exaction  "was  originally  Irish," 
but  that  when  the  English  adopted  it  they  "  used  it  with  more 
insolency  and  made  it  more  intolerable." — Discovery^  pp.  293- 
294.      Cf.  Ware,  Antiquities^  ch.  12. 

ss 


THE   LORDSHIP    OF   IRELAND 

nobleman  in  1535,  draws  an  appalling  picture  of 
the  desolation  of  the  country.^  The  witness  was 
not  impartial,  and  his  story  may  perhaps  be  ex- 
aggerated :  but  it  is  only  too  fully  corroborated 
in  its  broad  outlines. 

The  Desmonds  themselves,  although  lawless 
and  violent,  were  by  no  means  altogether  un- 
civilized. Of  the  eleventh  Earl,  who,  in  1528, 
engaged  in  a  negotiation  with  Charles  the  Fifth, 
we  have  a  highly  curious  picture  in  a  de- 
spatch from  the  imperial  ambassador,  Gonsalo 
Fernandez,  to  that  prince.  After  mentioning 
that  he  had  landed  at  Cork,  and  been  hospitably 
entertained  by  the  Earl  and  his  retainers  at 
1529    Dingle,  the  ambassador  proceeds: 

"Your  Majesty  will  be  pleased  to  under- 
stand that  there  are  in  Ireland  four  principal 
cities.  The  city  of  Dublin  is  the  largest  and 
the  richest  in  the  island,  and  neither  in  the 
town  nor  in  the  neighbourhood  has  the  Earl  of 
Desmond  land  or  subjects.  The  Earl  of  Kildare 
is  sovereign  of  that  district,  but  that  Earl  is  a 
kinsman  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  and  has 
married    his    cousin.       The    Earl    of    Kildare, 

^  "  Some  day  we  rode  sixteen  miles  of  waste  land,  the  which 
was  Englishmen's  ground,  yet  saw  I  never  so  goodly  woods, 
so  goodly  meadows,  so  goodly  pastures,  and  so  goodly  rivers, 
and  so  goodly  ground  to  bear  corn  :  and  where  the  ridges  were 
that  hath  borne  corn,  to  my  thinking  there  was  no  beast  did 
eat  it,  not  this  twelve  year,  and  it  was  the  most  part  such 
waste  all  our  journey." — Stephen  Parry  to  Cromwell,  October 
^>   ^535*     ^f'  Gr*y  to  Desmond,  December  28,  1536. 

56 


THE   LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

however,  is  at  present  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower 
of  London. 

"  Of  the  other  three  cities  one  is  called  Water- 
ford,  the  second  Cork,  and  the  third  Limerick  ; 
and  in  all  of  these  the  Earl  of  Desmond  has 
lordships  and  vassals.  He  has  dominions  also 
among  the  wild  tribes ;  he  has  lords  and  knights 
on  his  estates  who  pay  him  tribute.  He  has 
some  allies,  but  not  so  many,  by  a  great  deal,  as 
he  has  enemies.  He  has  ten  castles  of  his  own, 
some  of  which  are  strong  and  well-built,  especi- 
ally one  named  Dungarvan,  which  the  King  has 
often  attempted  to  take  without  success. 

"The  Earl  himself  is  from  thirty  to  forty 
years  old,  and  is  rather  above  the  middle  height. 
He  keeps  better  justice  throughout  his  dominions 
than  any  other  chief  in  Ireland.  Robbers  and 
homicides  find  no  mercy,  and  are  executed  out  of 
hand.  His  people  are  in  high  order  and  discipline. 
They  are  armed  with  short  bows  and  swords. 
The  Earl's  guard  are  in  mail  from  neck  to  heel  and 
carry  halberds.  He  has  also  a  number  of  horse, 
some  of  whom  know  how  to  break  a  lance.  They 
all  ride  admirably  without  saddle  or  stirrup."^ 

'  Gonsalo  Fernandez  to  Charles  V,  April  28,  1529. 
Froude's  Pilgrim^  Appendix,  pp.  1 71-175.  Hooker  (Holins- 
head's  Chronicles^  VI,  324)  represents  the  fourteenth  Earl  of 
Desmond  as  little  better  than  a  savage,  and  the  picture  has 
been  reproduced  by  many  writers.  But  Hooker  is  a  very 
partial  writer,  and  St.  Leger,  who  knew  Desmond  well,  calls 
him  "a  very  wise  and  discreet  gentleman." — To  the  King, 
February  21,  1541. 

S7 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

Threatened  by  Kildare  on  the  north,  by- 
Desmond  on  the  south  and  west,  the  Earls  of 
Ormond  were  compelled  to  maintain  a  closer 
connection  with  the  government.  Concerning 
them,  therefore,  and  their  dominions  we  possess 
more  detailed  information.  A  catalogue  of  the 
misdeeds  of  the  eighth  earl,  who  had  lately 
filled  the  office  of  Lord  Deputy,  was  presented 
to  Henry  VIII  in  1525,  and  affords  an  interest- 
ing, and  probably  by  no  means  an  isolated, 
example  of  the  predatory  habits  of  the  Anglo- 
Irish  aristocracy.  In  this  document  it  is  stated 
that,  the  King's  express  prohibition  notwith- 
standing, the  Earl  had  "continually  taken  coyne 
and  livery  of  all  the  King's  subjects  within  the 
counties  of  Kilkenny  and  Tipperary,  not  only 
for  his  horsemen,  kerne  and  galloglasses,  but 
also  for  his  masons,  carpenters,  tailors,  being  in 
1525  his  own  works,  and  also  for  his  sundry  hunts"  : 
that  he  had  seized  the  King's  manors  within 
the  same  counties  "  without  any  patent  or  other 
authority,  and,  besides  this,  usurped  the  King's 
royal  jurisdiction  within  the  said  two  counties, 
taking  all  the  King's  escheats,  fines,  forfeitures 
and  all  other  casualities  there  as  his  own"  :  that 
he  had  supplied  Mulrony  O'Carroll,  one  of  the 
most  dangerous  of  the  border  chieftains,  with 
artillery  for  the  purpose  of  making  war  upon 
the  King's  deputy  :  that,  having  a  controversy 
with  the  O'Briens,  "which  are  of  the  greatest 
power  of  any  of  the  Irishry  of  this  land,  the 

S8 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

same  Earl,  at  a  communication  with  them  for  a 
concord  to  be  had  in  the  same,  offered  unto 
them  their  own  desire  touching  their  said  con- 
troversy, so  as  they  would  have  been  bounden 
to  have  taken  his  part  against  the  King's  said 
deputy":  that,  the  Bishop  of  LeighHn  having 
been  brutally  murdered  by  Maurice  Kavanagh, 
an  illegitimate  son  of  the  Abbot  of  Dusk  and  a 
near  kinsman  of  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  assisted 
by  three  of  the  Earl's  servants,  "  for  that  intent 
the  said  Abbot  might  have  enjoyed  that  bishop- 
ric," Ormond  had,  nevertheless,  retained  the  said 
servants  in  his  employment,  and  assisted  the 
Abbot  and  his  son  to  evade  the  vengeance  of  the 
Deputy  :  that  others  of  his  servants  "  did  burn, 
rob,  and  spoil  a  town  called  Lyvetiston,  within 
the  county  of  Kildare,  where  they  cruelly  mur- 
dered and  burned  seventeen  men  and  women, 
divers  of  them  being  with  child  ";  that  he  "kept 
a  ward  of  evil-disposed  persons  in  a  pile  adjoin- 
ing the  sea,  called  Arklow,  which  do  not  only 
rob  and  spoil  the  King's  subjects  passing  thereby, 
but  also  do  ravish  women,  maidens  and  widows " : 
that  the  churches  in  Kilkenny  and  Tipperary 
were  "  in  such  extreme  decay,  by  provision, 
that,  in  a  manner,  there  is  no  divine  service 
kept  there  ;  so  as,  and  if  the  King's  Grace  do 
not  see  for  the  hasty  remedy  of  the  same,  there 
is  like  to  be  no  more  Christentie  there  than  in 
the  midst  of  Turkey  ";  that  the  Earl  had,  of 
his  own  authority,  imposed  a   heavy  tax  upon 

59 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

the  people  of  Kilkenny,  "  and  made  collectors 
to  levy  the  same,  as  and  it  had  been  granted  by 
authority  of  the  King's  parliament  ;  and  would 
suffer  no  penny  of  the  King's  subsidy,  which  is 
granted  by  parliament,  to  be  levied  there":  that 
he  had  induced  O'Conor,  O'Carroll,  and  others 
of  the  Irishry  to  make  war  upon  the  Earl  of 
Kildare,  "  contrary  to  the  tenor  of  the  King's 
letters  directed  unto  him  for  to  have  aided  the 
said  Earl  of  Kildare  against  the  King's  said 
rebels":  and  finally,  that  he  had  "taken  forty 
marks  of  the  seneschal  of  the  county  of  Wexford 
for  a  penalty,  because  he  took  part  with  the 
said  Earl  of  Kildare  against  the  King's  Irish 
rebels."' 

But  the  most  minute  and  circumstantial  account 
of  the  extortion  practised  by  the  great  Anglo- 
Irish  lords  is  to  be  found  in  the  report  of  a  royal 
commission  which  was  appointed  in  1537,  after 
the  defeat  of  the  Kildare  Geraldines,  to  inquire 
into  the  state  of  Ireland.  In  Louth,  Meath,  and 
Dublin,  an  inquiry  appears  to  have  been  judged 
unnecessary,  the  government  having  other  sources 
of  information.  On  the  other  hand,  the  com- 
missioners did  not  venture  to  penetrate  into  the 
principalities  of  the  house  of  Desmond,  still  less 
into  the  purely  Irish  provinces  of  Ulster  and 
1537  Connaught.  Their  investigations,  therefore, 
were    confined    to    the    counties    of   Kildare — 

^  Articles    touching   the    misdemeanour    of    the    Earl    of 
Ormond,  1525. 

60 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

which,  during  the  Geraldine  hegemony,  had 
been  virtually  lost  to  the  pale  '  — Carlow,  Kil- 
kenny and  Wexford  in  Leinster,  and  to  those 
of  Waterford  and  Tipperary  in  Munster. " 

Kilkenny  and  Tipperary,  the  dominions  of 
the  Earl  of  Ormond,  were,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  the  scene  of  the  worst  misgovernment ; 
and  the  grand  jury  of  the  former  county  pre- 
sented an  extremely  courageous  remonstrance 
against  the  oppression  exercised  by  that  power- 
ful nobleman.^      Waterford,  or  that  part  of  it 

^  In  1534  Kildare  was  described  as  "one  of  the  four  shires 
that  was  late  obedient  to  your  laws,  and  now  wholly  under 
the  governance  of  the  Earl  of  Kildare." — Report  on  the  State 
of  Ireland,  1534. 

^  The  reports  of  this  commission,  with  some  similar  docu- 
ments relating  to  a  later  period,  were  printed  in  the  Annuary 
of  the  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Society,  1 8  70. 

^  "  The  gentlemen,  with  all  the  commoners  of  the  said 
county,  the  sovereign,  with  all  the  heads  and  commoners  of 
the  town  of  Kilkenny,  be  very  desirous  to  be  obedient  to  the 
King's  laws,  and  to  live  in  good  civility  ;  and  albeit  the  King's 
laws  in  the  said  county  be  not  only  clearly  void  and  frustrate, 
but  also  all  the  exactions,  suppressions,  and  other  enormities 
before  presented,  with  many  more,  be  maintained  and  enforced 
only  by  the  Earl  of  Ossory,  my  lady  his  wife,  the  Lord  James 
Butler,  Richard  Butler,  and  other  the  said  Earl's  children  and 
kin  of  his  name,  wherefore  to  provide  that  these  persons  may 
be  reduced,  and  the  county  will  be  immediately  prosperous, 
and  of  great  strength  to  defend  themselves  against  their 
enemies." — Presentments  of  the  Juries  of  the  Corporation 
and  Commonalty  of  Kilkenny,  of  the  Gentlemen  and  Com- 
moners of  the  County  of  Kilkenny,  and  of  the  Town  of 
Irishtown  :  also  of  the  Head  and  Commoners  of  the  Town 
of  Clonmel,  and  of  the  Gentlemen  and  Commoners  of  the 
County  of  Tipperary,  October,  1537. 

61 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

in  which  alone  an  inquisition  could  be  held — 
for  Sir  Gerald  MacShane,  who  ruled  over  the 
western  half  of  the  county,  was  able,  like  his 
kinsman  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  to  exclude  the 
royal  commissioners^ — was  at  this  time  under 
the  government  of  a  lady,  Katherine,  widow  of 
Sir  Richard  Poer  of  Curraghmore,  and  daughter 
of  the  eighth  Earl  of  Ormond,  whose  tyranny 
equalled  or  exceeded  that  of  her  father."  The 
Earl  of  Kildare  had  until  recently  been  guilty 
of  similar  acts  of  oppression  in  Kildare  and 
Carlo  w  ;^  while  the  "civil"  portion  of  Wexford 
was  subject  to  the  triple  tyranny  of  the  "seneschal 
of  the  liberty  of  Wexford,"  who  governed  in  the 
name  of  the  absentee  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  of  the 
Ormond  family,  who  were  attempting  to  extend 
their  dominions  from  Kilkenny  eastward,  and  of 

^  "  Of  all  the  whole  shire  of  Waterford  there  answered  the 
■sessions  the  inhabitants  scantly  of  the  one  half,  which  is 
called  the  Powers'  land  or  country  :  the  other  part  one  Gerald 
MacShane  of  Desmond,  one  of  the  Geraldines,  a  kinsman  of 
James,  pretended  Earl  of  Desmond,  possesseth  and  keepeth 
the  same  ;  who  will  neither  obey  the  King,  his  laws,  ne 
officers,  but  adhereth  wholly  to  the  said  pretended  Earl,  albeit 
that  all  the  lands  which  he  hath  in  the  county  of  Waterford 
be  of  the  King's  old  inheritance,  as  parcel  of  his  honour  and 
lordship  of  Dungarvan." — The  Council  of  Ireland  to  Crom- 
well, January  1 8,  1539. 

2  Presentments  of  the  Juries  of  the  County  and  City  of 
Waterford,  October,  1537. 

^  Presentment  by  David  Sutton  to  the  King's  High  Com- 
missioners, September  20,  1537.  See  also,  for  the  exactions 
of  a  later  Earl  of  Kildare,  the  Articles  by  Oliver  Sutton, 
December  2,  1565. 

62 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

the  Bishop  of  Ferns,  who  had  allied  himself 
with  "  the  savage  nation  of  the  Kavanaghs,'* 
and  was  pillaging  the  English  parts  of  the 
county/ 

All  the  lords  and  gentlemen  of  these  counties, 
and  also,  as  appears  from  documents  of  a  later 
date,  those  of  Cork,  Limerick,  and  Kerry, 
habitually  took  coyne  and  livery,  the  nature  of 
which  has  already  been  explained.  Most  of 
them  also  exacted  "kernety,"  a  tax  for  the 
maintenance  of  kerne,  and  "bonnaught"  or 
"boynes,"  a  tax  for  the  maintenance  of  gallo- 
glasses.  Some  of  them  further  imposed  "black 
beds ";  that  is  to  say,  required  payment  for 
troops  which  existed  only  on  paper.  Almost 
all  demanded  "srah,"  an  annual  rent  payable  in 
money,  and  "mart,"  a  similar  rent  payable  in 
kind.  All,  without  exception,  kept  Brehons, 
and  administered  either  feudal  or  Brehon  law, 
or  a  bastard  system,  known  as  the  "Statutes  of 
Kilcash,"  as  best  suited  their  own  convenience.^ 
The  three  Earls,  with  their  wives,  children,  and 
servants,  used  to  travel  about  "after  the  custom 

^  Presentments  of  the  Juries  of  the  County  and  Town  of 
Wexford,  October,  1537.  For  the  seneschal,  William  St. 
Loe,  see  also  a  letter  of  the  Council  to  Cromwell,  January 
18,  1539. 

^  Presentments  of  Juries,  October,  1537.  The  meaning  of 
the  terms  is  explained  in  a  paper  drawn  up  after  the  attainder 
of  Desmond.  Names  of  rents  in  moneys,  victuals,  and  other 
revenues,  which  were  due  to  the  late  Earl  of  Desmond,  June, 
1588.     See  also  Ware,  Antiquities^  ch.  12. 

63 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

and  usage  of  wild  Irishmen,"  to  monasteries 
and  gentlemen's  houses,  taking  food  and  drink 
without  payment,  and  quartering  their  horses 
and  horseboys  on  the  neighbouring  farmers.  ^ 
This  practice,  which,  in  spite  of  numerous  acts 
of  parliament,  survived  until  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  was  known  as  "coshery." 
Some  lands  were  required  to  provide  the  lord, 
his  friends  and  retainers,  with  food  and  lodging 
for  four  days  four  times  a  year,  others  for 
twenty-four  hours  once  a  fortnight.  These  exac- 
tions were  called  "cuddies"  and  "sorohen."^  If 
an  Anglo-Irish  lord  enlarged  his  castle  or  his 
stables  he  extorted  *'musteroons" :  that  is  to 
say,  he  compelled  his  tenants  to  provide  him 
with  carts,  horses,  and  labour  at  their  own 
expense.  If  he  hunted  he  imposed  a  tax, 
"gillicree,"  for  the  support  of  his  horses,  and 
another  tax,  "gillicon,"  for  the  support  of  his 

^  Report  on  the  State  of  Ireland,  1534. 

^  "Sorohen  doth  warrant  the  lord  to  come  once  in  every 
fourteen  days  with  all  his  company  without  limitation  of  any 
certain  number,  to  the  lands  and  tenements  found  by  office  to 
be  charged  therewith,  and  to  take  meat  and  drink  for  him  and 
his  said  company  of  the  inhabitants  and  freeholders  of  the  said 
lands  the  space  of  twenty-four  hours. 

"Cuddye,  called  a  night  supper,  doth  warrant  the  lord,  with 
such  company  as  pleaseth  him,  to  come  to  the  lands  charged 
with  that  tenure,  and  to  take  meat  and  drink  for  him 
and  his  company  of  the  inhabitants  thereof  the  space  of 
four  days  at  four  times  of  the  year." — The  nature  of 
sorohen  lands  and  other  chargeable  lands  in  Ireland,  May, 

1589. 

64 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

hounds.^      If    he    entertained    the    Deputy,    or 
a   neighbouring  chieftain,   or  celebrated   Easter 
or    Christmas,    he    defrayed    the    expenses    of 
his  hospitality  by    a    tax   called    "mertyeght." 
If  he     travelled     to    Dublin    he    defrayed    the 
expenses  of  his  journey  by  a  tax  called  "south." 
In    addition   to     these     customary    and     almost 
legal    exactions    the    Anglo-Irish    lords    were 
accused    of   waging    private   wars ;     of   allying 
themselves  by  marriage  and  fosterage  with  the 
king's     enemies ;     of    inflicting    arbitrary    and 
illegal  punishments  on  the  King's    subjects  ;   of 
erecting  weirs,  which  impeded   the  navigation 
of  rivers,  and  of  violently  interfering  with  the 
course  of  trade.^ 

But  whatever  disorders  were   to  be  found  in 
these  districts,  the  condition  of  that  part  of  the 
island  which  was  subject  to  the  direct  control  of 
the   viceregal  government  was   infinitely  worse. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  four  shires   suffered  the     1533- 
same  oppressions  as  those  of  the  border  counties,     ^537 
and  other  oppressions  also,  from  which  the  in- 
habitants   of   the    border    counties    were    free. 
Coyne   and   livery,  with  cuddies,   coshery,   and 
other  kindred  exactions,  were  as  "  immoderately 

^  "Gillicree  is  as  much  to  say  in  English,  as  a  stud-keep 
allowed,  to  be  maintained  by  his  tenants." 

"  Gillicon  is  as  much  to  say  as  dog-keep  or  huntsman  in 
like  manner  allowed." — Names  of  rents  due  to  the  late  Earl 
of  Desmond,  June,  1588. 

^  Presentments  of  Juries,  1537. 

65  F 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

universally  used"^  in  the  heart  of  the  English 
country  as  in  the  wildest  parts  of  Munster :  and 
writer  after  writer  warned  the  King  that  the 
process  by  which  the  Earls  of  Desmond  had  been 
enabled  to  wrest  that  province  from  the  crown 
was  fast  repeating  itself  within  the  narrow  limits 
of  the  Pale.^  "There  is  no  march  borderer, 
lord,  knight,  esquire,  nor  gentleman,"  Lord 
Leonard  Gray  wrote  in  1537,  "but  hath  more 
thieves  belonging  to  him  than  true  men":' 
and  all  other  documents  tell  the  same  story.  It 
appeared,  "by  relation  of  ancient  men,"  that  the 
ancestors  of  these  gentlemen  had  kept  "retinues 
of  English  yeomen  in  their  houses  after  the 
English  fashion."  Their  descendants  kept 
"horsemen  and  knaves,"  who  lived  upon  the 
King's  subjects,  and  who,  in  addition  to  the  cost 
of  their  keep,  were  guilty  of  every  sort  of  ex- 
tortion and  cruelty.*  Although  hating  and 
despising  the  mere  Irish,  and  openly  advocating 
a  policy  of  extermination,^  the  lords  of  the  Pale 


^  Instructions  to  John  Alen,  1533. 

^  Report  to  Cromwell,  1533.  Luttrell  to  the  Com- 
missioners, September,  1537. 

^  Gray  to  the  Commissioners,  September,  1537. 

^Instructions  to  John  Alen,  1533. 

*  "When  the  battle  (of  Knocktoe,  1504)  was  done,  and  a 
great  number  of  the  Irish  slain,  as  it  was  reported  nine 
thousand,  the  Lord  of  Gormanstown  said  to  the  Earl,  *We 
have  done  one  good  work,  and  if  we  do  the  other  we  shall  do 
well.*  Being  asked  what  he  meant,  said  he,  'We  have  for 
the  most  number  killed  our  enemies,  and  if  we  do  the  like 

66 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

had  adopted  the  Irish  manners,  spoke  the  Irish 
language,  and,  except  when  attending  parHa- 
ment,  habitually  wore  the  Irish  dress.  They 
administered  Brehon  or  March  law,  meeting  on 
hills  after  the  Irish  fashion;  took  "erics"  and 
"caanes,"  and  imposed  penalties  on  all  who 
dared  to  appeal  against  their  tyranny  to  the  pro- 
tection of  the  law  courts.  Nor  was  this  all. 
They  allowed  their  servants  to  rob  and  spoil  the 
King's  subjects ;  brought  up  their  children 
badly,  and  encouraged  them  in  the  perpetration 
of  crime;  and  exercised  "royal  jurisdiction" 
over  their  tenants  and  poorer  neighbours,  com- 
pelling them  to  sell  their  produce  at  such  prices 
as  their  lords  thought  fit  to  offer,  and  inflicting 
punishment  on  all  who  ventured  to  buy  or  sell 
without  their  permission.^ 

Had  these  noblemen  been  willing  and  able  to 
preserve  the  Englishry  from  the  attacks  of  the 
Irish  borderers  their  oppression  might,  perhaps, 
have  been  tolerable.  This,  however,  they 
neither  did  nor  attempted  to  do.  There  was 
no  longer  any  diversity  in  dress  or  language 
between  the  two  nations,  and  the  exclusion  of 
the  Irishry  from  the  Pale,  which  had  always 
been  difKcult,  had  thus  become  virtually  im- 
possible.    The  statute  book  contains  remarkable 

with  all  the  Irishmen  that  we  have  with  us,  it  were  a  good 
deed.'  " — Book  of  Howth^  p.  185. 

^  Ordinances  for  the  Government  of  Ireland,  1534. — Gray, 
Alen,  and  Luttrell,  to  the  Commissioners,  September,  1537. 

67 


THE   LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

evidence  of  the  decay  of  the  colony  during  the 
fifteenth  century.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  V 
the  settlers,  finding  life  in  Ireland  intolerable, 
had  begun  to  emigrate  in  such  numbers  that 
an   act  was   passed  ordering  them   to  return  to 

1413  their  homes.  ^  The  emigration,  nevertheless, 
continued ;  and  in  the  next  reign  the  crown, 
rather  than  suffer  the  Pale  to  lie  waste  for  want 
of  inhabitants,  began  to  grant  "charters  of 
denization"  with  a  frequency  unknown  at  an 
earlier  period.  It  cannot  be  said  that  the  re- 
sults of  this  experiment  were  satisfactory.  The 
persons  enfranchised  belonged  principally  to 
those  tribes  which  had  been  engaged  in  inces- 
sant hostilities  with  the  settlers;  they  introduced 
into  the  Pale  the  habits  contracted  during  three 
centuries  of  border  warfare ;  and  the  anarchy, 
which     had    hitherto    been    confined    to    the 

1447  marches,  was  thus  extended  to  the  civil  districts.' 
Seized  with  panic,  and  realizing  their  own  in- 
ability to  maintain  order,  the  Irish  parliament 
next  enacted   that  it  should   be   lawful  to   the 


1  I  Henry  V,  c.  8.  {English.)  Luttrell  in  1537 
recommended   that  this  act  should   be  enforced. 

^  "  Divers  Irish  enemies  be  many  times  received  by  lieuten- 
ants and  justices  of  this  land  to  become  liege-men,  and  thereto 
are  sworn  to  be  loyal  lieges  during  their  lives:  and  after  many 
times  they  do  not  perimplish  the  same,  but  do  rob,  burn 
and  destroy  the  King's  liege-people." — 25  Henry  VI,  c.  5. 
Another  act  of  the  same  year  (c.  4)  mentions  that  there  was 
at  this  time  "no  diversity  in  array  between  the  English 
marchers  and  Irish  enemies." 

68 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

King's  lieges  to  kill  "all  manner  notorious  and 
known  thieves":^  and  that  every  Irishman  1450 
who  was  not  accompanied  by  a  person  in 
English  apparel  should  be  held  to  be  a  thief 
within  the  meaning  of  the  act.^  And,  since  1465 
the  Irish  population  of  the  Pale  had  now  be- 
come too  numerous  to  be  removed,  it  was 
further  enacted  that,  for  the  preservation  of 
English  order,  every  Irishman  within  the 
four  shires  should  assume  an  English  sur- 
name, wear  the  English  dress,  and  shave  at 
least  once  a  fortnight.'  But  this  legislation 
also  proved  ineffective  ;  instead  of  the  Irishry 
becoming  "  civil  "  the  Englishry  continued  to 
become  "  degenerate  ;"  and  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII  the  de-anglicization  of  the  island 
was  complete.  "*  "  The  inheritors  of  the  lands 
of  the  Englishry,"  says  an  official  document 
of  '533»  "have  admitted  to  be  their  ten-  i533 
ants  those  of  the  Irishry  which  can  live 
hardily,  without  bread,  or  other  good  victuals  ; 
and  some  for  lucre,  to  have  of  them  more  rent, 

^  "Whereas,  the  thieves  and  evil  doers  increase  in  great 
store,  and  do  destroy  the  commons.with  their  thefts,  stealings 
and  manslaughters,  and  also  do  cause  the  land  to  fall  into  decay 
and  poverty,  it  is  ordained  that  it  shall  be  lawful  to  every 
liege-man  of  our  Sovereign  Lord  the  King  to  kill  all  manner 
notorious  and  known  thieves." — 28  Henry  VI,  c.  3. 

^  5  Edward  IV,  c.  2. 

3  Ibid.,  c.  3.      Cf.  25  Henry  VI,  c.  4. 

* "  All  the  common  people  of  the  said  half-counties,  that 
obeycth  the  King's  laws,  for  the  more  part  be  of  Irish  birth, 
of  Irish  habit,  and  of  Irish  language." — State  of  Ireland,  1515. 

69 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

and  some  for  other  impositions  than  English 
husbands  be  able  to  give,  together  with  the 
oppression  of  coyne  and  livery,  have  expelled 
them  ;  and  so  is  all  the  country,  in  effect,  made 
Irish,  and  without  trust  and  security  of  defence, 
good  order,  or  hospitality."  ^  Those  who  were 
loudest  in  their  condemnation  of  these  practices 
were  themselves  compelled,  so  rapid  had  the 
emigration  of  the  English  become,  to  follow 
their  example.^  The  fortresses  which  had  been 
built  for  the  protection  of  the  Pale  were  either 
in  ruins  or  garrisoned  by  Irishmen  or  by  those 
who  were  allied  to  them  by  marriage  or  foster- 
age ;^  and  the  "  lords  marchers,"  whose  duty  it 
was  to  defend  the  English  frontier,  found  it  safer 
and  more  economical  to  insure  their  own  pro- 
perties by  allowing  the  enemy  a  free  passage 
into  the  inland  districts.     And  if  any  of  them 

^Instructions  to  John  Alen,  1533. 

^  "  Whereas  there  is  such  scarceness  of  the  English  blood 
in  these  parts,  that  of  force  we  [be]  driven  not  only  to  take 
Irishmen,  our  natural  enemies,  to  our  tenants  and  earth-tillers, 
but  also  some  to  our  household  servants,  some  horsemen  and 
kerne  ;  it  is  necessary  to  be  enacted  by  parliament  that  none 
of  an  Irish  nation,  unless  his  grandfather,  father,  and  himself 
were  born  in  the  English  Pale,  shall  bide  amongst  us." — Alen 
to  the  Commissioners,  September,  1537- 

^  "  All  the  King's  castles  in  this  land  be  fallen  to  utter  ruin 
and  decay." — Instructions  to  John  Alen,  1533.  "For  most 
part  all  the  castles  of  the  marches,  being  the  inheritance  to 
Englishmen  of  this  country  born,  be  inhabited  either  with 
men  of  Irish  nation,  or  else  with  such  as  be  combined  by 
gossipred  or  fostering  with  Irishmen  nigh  to  their  borders." 
Gray  to  the  Commissioners,  September,  1537" 

70 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

coveted  a  poor  man's  freehold  he  would  bring 
in  his  Irish  friends  to  "  burn,  destroy,  and  waste 
the  said  freehold  ;  and  then  the  poor  freeholder 
must  of  fine  force  be  driven  to  sell  the  said  free- 
hold to  the  lord,  or  else  to  have  no  profit  thereof."^ 
Betrayed  by  their  natural  protectors,  and  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides  by  powerful  and  inveterate 
enemies,  the  colonists,  or  such  of  them  as  still 
remained  in  the  country,  sought  to  purchase 
immunity  from  invasion  by  paying  "  black 
rents  "  to  the  most  dangerous  of  the  neighbour- 
ing chieftains.  Lecale  and  Louth  paid  tribute 
to  O'Neil  ;  Meath  and  Kildare  to  O'Conor  ; 
Wexford  to  MacMurrough,  who  also  received 
a  grant  from  the  King's  exchequer  ;  Kilkenny  1515 
and  Tipperary  to  O'Carroll  ;  the  city  of  Cork 
to  MacCarthy,  and  the  city  of  Limerick  to 
OBrien.^  Even  these  humiliating  submissions 
did  not  always  suffice  to  preserve  the  farms  of 
the  Englishry  from  pillage.  It  was  the  boast 
of  the  border  chieftains  that  they  "  eat  their 
beef  from  the  English  Pale  ";  and  every  family 
of  importance  possessed  a  professional  cow- 
stealer,  who  was  described  by  a  polite  euphemism 
as  the  "  caterer."^     To  such  an  extent  was  this 

^  Gray  to  the  Commissioners,  September,  1537.  See  also 
Norfolk  to  Wolsey,  July  3,  1528. 

"  State  of  Ireland,  1 5 1 5. 

^  Paper  on  "  the  Clan  Kavanagh,"  by  H.  F.  Hore,  Kilkenny 
Archaeological  Journal^  Ser.  II,  vol.  ii,  p.  74.  The  Kavanaghs, 
J$y2  [Carew  AISS.).  Davies,  Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Salisburyy 
1607. 

71 


THE   LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

practice  carried  that  an  English  resident  in 
Dublin  informed  the  government  in  1533 
that  all  the  butchers  in  the  capital  had  not 
sufficient  beef  to  make  one  mess  of  browes  ; 
that  five  or  six  preys  had  been  taken  w^ithin 
the  last  ten  days  ;  and  that  a  single  butcher 
had  lost  as  many  as  two  hundred  and  twenty 
cattle.^ 

The  King's  deputies  were  as  rapacious  as  any 
private  gentlemen,  and  they  enjoyed  far  greater 
opportunities  of  gratifying  their  rapacity.  Kil- 
dare,  Delvin,  Ossory,  each  in  turn,  surpassed  his 
predecessor  in  extortion  ;^  and  even  the  most 
ardent  reformers  had  ceased  to  think  the  coyne 
and  livery  could  be  abolished,  and  contented 
themselves  with  feeble  attempts  to  regulate  it/ 
Native  deputies  used  their  office  as  a  "  cloak  or 
habit  to  cover  their  cruel  persecutions,'*  prose- 
cuting their  family  feuds  in  the  King's  name,  and 
appropriating  the  profits  of  a  campaign,  while 

^  John  Dethyk,  September  3,  1533. 

^Luttrell  to  the  Commissioners,  September,  1537. 

^Ordinances  for  the  Government  of  Ireland,  1534.  "As 
for  all  the  heart  of  the  English  Pale  there  needeth  no  coyne  ne 
livery  ;  but  as  yet  in  the  marches  there  must  be  a  continuance 
thereof,  but  some  moderation  must  be." — Cow^ley  to  Crom- 
well, 1537.  "That  no  coyne  ne  livery  be  used,  but  by  such 
as  be  appointed  by  the  King's  printed  book,  and  the  orders 
there  mentioned  observed." — Alen  to  the  Commissioners,  Sep- 
tember, 1537.  "  Although  coyne  and  livery  utterly  cannot 
be  put  away,  till  the  country  be  at  some  better  stay  than  it  is, 
yet  some  moderation  may  be  had  therein." — Luttrell  to  the 
Commissioners,  September,  1537. 

72 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

the  people  bore  the  expense.^  English  deputies 
came  over  fully  resolved  that  the  licence  of  the 
soldiery  should  cease.  They  found  that  they 
could  not  rule  without  an  army  ;  that  they  had 
not  the  means  to  pay  an  army  ;  that  an  army 
which  was  not  paid  must  be  permitted  to 
support  itself  by  plunder.  "  The  King's  army 
in  England  is  the  commons,  and  the  King's  army 
in  Ireland  is  all  such  that  oppress  the  com- 
mons."^ 

But  even  this  was  not  the  worst.  The 
deputies  were  constantly  changed,  and  every 
new  deputy  made  it  a  main  object  of  his  policy 

^ Report  to  Cromwell,  1533.  "Some  sayeth,  the  King's 
Deputy  useth  to  make  so  many  great  roads,  journeys,  and  host- 
ings,  now  in  the  north  parts  of  Ulster,  now  in  the  south  parts 
of  Munster,  now  into  the  west  parts  of  Connaught,  and  taketh 
the  King's  subjects  with  him  by  compulsion,  in  times  with  a 
fortnight's  victual,  and  oft-times  victual  for  three  or  four  weeks, 
and  constraineth  and  chargcth  the  poor  common  people  with 
all  the  carriage  of  the  same,  and  giveth  licence  to  all  the  noble 
folk,  for  the  more  part,  to  cess  and  rear  all  their  costs  on  the 
common  people,  and  on  the  King's  poor  subjects  ;  and  the  fine 
of  that  great  journey  and  hosting  commonly  is  no  other  in 
effect,  but  that  the  Deputy  useth  to  receive  a  reward  of  one 
or  two  hundred  kine  to  himself,  and  so  depart,  without  any 
more  hurt  to  the  King's  enemies,  after  that  he  hath  turned 
the  King's  subjects,  and  the  poor  common  folk  to  their  charge 
and  costs,  by  estimation,  of  two  or  three  thousand  pounds." — 
State  of  Ireland,  1515.  See  also  "The  State  of  the  English 
Pale  and  Civil  Shires,"  1559  {Carew  MSS.).  The  campaign 
of  Knocktoe,  one  of  the  most  bloody  in  Irish  history,  had  its 
origin  in  a  family  quarrel  between  Kildare,  then  Deputy,  and 
his  son-in-law,  McWilliam  Uachtar. — Book  of  Howth^  p.  181. 

^  State  of  Ireland,  15 15.     Cf.  Henry  to  Surrey,  July,  1520. 

71 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

to  disgrace  and  persecute  all  who  had  enjoyed 
the  confidence  of  his  predecessor.  Thus  no 
man  could  feel  confident  that  what  at  one 
moment  was  esteemed  a  proof  of  loyalty  might 
not  afterwards  be  imputed  to  him  as  a  crime  ; 
and  many  who  had  no  thought  of  treason  were 
driven  to  take  arms  against  the  Deputy  in  self- 
defence,  "  and  so,  little  by  little,  to  encroach  in 
disobedience,  omitting  well  nigh  their  duties  to 
that  authority."  ^ 

Neither  the  crown  nor  the  courts  of  justice 
afforded  any  protection  against  the  tyranny  of 
the  local  administration.  Far  from  being  will- 
ing to  spend  money  upon  Ireland — and  without 
a  considerable  expenditure  reform  of  any  sort 
was  impossible — the  King  of  England  thought 
only  of  extorting  subsidies  from  the  impover- 
ished and  almost  starving  population  of  the 
Pale.  ^  The  courts  of  law  had  neither  the  will 
151 5-  nor  the  power  to  restrain  the  excesses  of  the 
^537  aristocracy.  The  lords  of  the  Pale  had  for- 
bidden their  tenants  to  appeal  to  them  ;^  few 
persons  ventured  to  disregard  this  prohibition  ; 

^  Report  to  Cromwell,  1533. 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry,  October  29,  1536; 
April  20,  1537.     Instructions  to  St.  Leger  and  others,  1537. 

^  "  Divers  march  lords  and  captains  have  made  laws  among 
themselves  that  whosoever,  under  their  rule,  pursue  any  action 
at  the  Kings's  laws  shall  forfeit  five  marks." — Alen  to  the  Com- 
missioners, September,  1537.  "Some  marchers  have  set  fines, 
otherwise  called  canys,  upon  such  as  would  sue  at  the  King's 
laws." — Luttrell  to  the  Commissioners,  September,  1537. 

74 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

and  those  few  profited  little  by  their  temerity. 
The  very  hall  in  which  the  law  had  formerly 
been  administered  was  in  ruins ;  ^  and  the 
administration  of  justice  was  frequently  para- 
lysed by  the  impossibility  of  finding  persons 
qualified  to  sit  on  juries.^  Even  if  these 
obstacles  were  overcome  a  more  serious  difficulty 
remained.  The  judges  themselves  were  almost 
always  incompetent  and  generally  corrupt;.^ 
"wherefore  the  said  subjects  be  so  grievously 
vexed  daily  with  the  said  courts,  that  they  be 
glad  to  sell  their  freeholds  for  ever,  rather  than 
to  suffer  always  the  vexation  of  the  said  courts  : 
like  as  the  freeholders  of  the  marches,  where 
the  King's  laws  be  not  obeyed,  be  so  vexed  by 
extortion,  that  they  be  glad  in  like  wise  to  sell 
their  lands  and  freeholds  to  such  persons  that 
compelleth  them  by  means  of  extortion  to  make 
alienation  thereof,  rather  than  always  to  bear 
and  be  under  the  said  extortion. 

^  "And  in  any  wise  some  order  to  be  taken  immediately  for 
the  building  of  the  castle  hall,  where  the  law  is  kept :  for  if 
the  same  be  not  builded,  the  majesty  and  estimation  of  the 
law  shall  perish,  the  justices  being  enforced  to  minister  the  laws 
upon  hills,  as  it  were  Brehons  or  wild  Irishmen." — Alen  to 
the  Commissioners,  September,  1537. 

^  Luttrell  to  the  Commissioners,  September,  1537. 

^  "The  judges  here  take  fees  commonly  of  every  man." — 
Cowley  to  Cromwell,  October,  4,  1536.  "Many  rewards 
be  taken  for  selling  of  justice." — Alen  to  the  Commissioners, 
September,  1537.  On  November  30,  1537,  a  merchant 
named  Bolter  wrote  to  Cromwell  accusing  Judge  Luttrell  of 
corruption  (MS.  R.O.). 

IS 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

"And  so,  what  with  the  extortion  of  coyne 
and  livery  daily,  and  with  the  wrongful  exaction 
of  hosting  money,  and  of  carriage  and  cartage 
daily,  and  what  with  the  King's  great  subsidy 
yearly,  and  with  the  said  tribute,  and  black  rent 
to  the  King's  Irish  enemies,  and  other  infinite 
extortions  and  daily  exactions,  all  the  English 
folk  of  the  counties  of  Dublin,  Kildare,  Meath, 
and  Uriel,  be  more  oppressed  than  any  other 
folk  of  this  land,  English  or  Irish,  and  of  worse 
condition  be  they  at  this  side,  than  in  the 
marches."  ^ 

One  section  of  the  community,  and  one  alone, 
enjoyed  a  partial  exemption  from  this  oppression. 
While  the  rural  population  was  ground  to  pow- 
der by  the  exactions  of  palatine  and  chief,  or  by 
the  still  more  intolerable  tyranny  of  the  Dublin 
government,  the  inhabitants  of  the  cities  and 
walled  towns  of  Ireland  had  attained  to  a  con- 
siderable pitch  of  prosperity  and  civilization. 
The  burgesses  were  protected  by  their  walls 
from  the  attacks  of  the  native  chiefs,  and  pre- 
served by  distance  from  the  interference  of  the 
Deputy.  Holding  little  intercourse  with  the 
Celtic  population,  with  which  their  relations 
were  far  from  friendly,  they  had  generally  es- 
caped the  degeneracy  so  prevalent  in  the  rural 
districts;  but  their  connection  with  the  English 
government  was  purely  nominal.     As  the  Earls 

^  State  of  Ireland,  15 15. 

76 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

of  Desmond  and  Ormond  had  become  in 
practice  independent  sovereigns,  the  towns  of 
Waterford,  Cork,  Limerick,  and  Galway,  had 
virtually  developed  into  self-governing  republics. 
They  elected  their  ov^^n  magistrates,  excluded 
the  King's  judges,  contributed  nothing  to  the 
King's  revenue,  declared  war,  and  concluded 
peace  without  the  smallest  regard  for  the  Deputy 
or  the  Dublin  parliament.^ 

For  this  scandalous  state  of  things  there  were 
two  possible  remedies — the  rise  of  a  native 
monarchy,  or  a  complete  conquest,  accompanied 
by  large  and  statesmanlike  measures  of  concilia- 
tion. The  existence  of  the  English  government 
offered  an  insuperable  obstacle  to  the  first ;  its 
parsimony  and  imbecility  seemed  to  preclude 
all  possibility  of  the  second.  Had  the  King  of 
England  abandoned,  as  at  one  time  seemed  prob- 
able, the  attempt  to  reduce  a  dependency  from 
which  his  predecessors  had  reaped  nothing  but 
disaster  and  disgrace,  the  prevailing  anarchy 
might  not  have  immediately  ceased ;  but  the 
chief  cause  of  that  anarchy  would,  at  least,  have 
been  removed.  On  the  other  hand,  had  Henry, 
instead  of  contenting  himself  with  a  titular 
sovereignty,  made  a  vigorous  attempt  to  assert 
his  authority  throughout  the  island,  and  to  ex- 
ercise it  in  the  interest  of  the  inhabitants,  it  can 

^  In  1524  the  cities  of  Limerick  and  Galway  waged  a  war 
with  one  another  which  was  concluded  by  a  formal  treaty  of 
peace. — Hardiman's  History  of  Galway^  pp.  77-78. 

77 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

hardly  be  doubted  that  he  would  have  met  with 
a  large  measure  of  support.  The  provincial 
cities  had  an  obvious  interest  in  the  establish- 
ment of  order,  and,  until  the  Reformation  gave 
a  new  direction  to  their  sympathies,  the  bur- 
gesses never  showed  the  smallest  inclination  to 
take  part  in  the  insurrections  of  the  native 
chieftains.^  The  people  of  the  Pale  would 
have  rallied  enthusiastically  to  the  support 
of  any  government  which  had  the  will  and 
the  power  to  protect  them.  "  The  King's 
rebels,"  in  the  opinion  of  many  who  had 
the  best  opportunities  of  judging,  had  only 
deserted  the  government  because  the  govern- 
ment had  deserted  its  duties,  and  would  be 
glad  enough  to  return  to  their  allegiance.^ 
More  than  one  of  the  Celtic  chiefs  was  not 
only  willing  but  eager  to  exchange  his  preca- 
rious independence  for  the  dignity  and  security 
of  an  English  earldom.^  The  "  churls,"  or 
labouring  classes  desired  nothing  but  to  be  pro- 
tected from  coyne  and  livery,  and  to  enjoy  the 

^  The  position  of  the  walled  towns  at  the  end  of  the  cen- 
tury is  very  fully  described  in  Fynes  Moryson's  Itinerary^  pt. 
iv,  bk.  ii,  chap.  5.  During  the  lifetime  of  Elizabeth  they 
remained,  at  least,  outwardly  loyal,  but  went  into  open  insur- 
rection on  the  accession  of  James  I.  Their  grievances,  which 
were  altogether  distinct  from  those  of  the  "  mere  Irish,"  will 
be  described  in  a  subsequent  chapter  of  this  work. 

2  State  of  Ireland,  1515. 

^  As  was  proved  a  few  years  later  in  the  cases  of  O'Neil, 
O'Donel,  O'Brien  and  McWilliam.     See  infra^  ch.  5. 

78 


THE    LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

fruits  of  their  industry  in  peace/  Even  the 
"  wood-kerne  "  were  not  irreclaimable.  They 
lived  by  plunder,  chiefly  because,  in  the  existing 
condition  of  society,  it  was  impossible  for  them 
to  live  otherwise. 

But  the  task  of  welding  together  the  dis- 
cordant elements  of  Irish  life,  although  less 
hopeless  than  has  sometimes  been  supposed, 
required  an  amount  of  tact  and  patience,  a  sin- 
cerity in  dealing  with  the  native  chieftains,  and 
a  respect  for  the  native  usages  of  which  few 
English  statesmen  were  capable,  as  well  as  a 
continuous  attention  which  no  English  states- 
man was  able  to  give.  It  was  easier,  so  long 
as  no  immediate  danger  threatened,  to  retain 
the  name,  while  neglecting  the  duties  of  govern- 
ment, and  to  foster  disturbances  which  might 
prepare  the  way  for  future  conquest.  The  con- 
solidation of  the  clans  would  have  been  fatal  to 
this  benevolent  purpose,  and  no  effort  was  spared 
to  prevent  it.  The  aim  of  the  King  and  his 
advisers  was  not  the  restoration  of  order  but  the 

^  "  So  soon  as  we  shall  arrive  in  Ireland  there  is  no  doubt 
but  there  will  great  numbers  of  the  husbandmen,  which  they 
call  churls,  come  and  offer  to  live  under  us,  and  to  farm  our 
grounds,  both  such  as  are  of  the  country  birth,  and  the  English 
Pale.  For  the  churl  of  Ireland  is  a  very  simple  and  toilsome 
man,  desiring  nothing  but  that  he  may  not  be  eaten  out  with 
cess,  coyne,  nor  livery." — A  Tract  on  the  Colonization  of 
Ards,  by  Sir  Thomas  Smith.  So  too,  Finglas,  Breviate. 
"There  be  no  better  labourers  than  the  poor  commons  of 
Ireland,  nor  sooner  will  be  brought  to  good  frame,  if  they  be 
kept  under  the  law." 

79 


THE   LORDSHIP    OF    IRELAND 

perpetuation  of  anarchy,  and  they  interfered 
with  just  sufficient  energy  and  frequency  to 
prevent  the  native  chiefs  from  governing  the 
country.  A  chief  who  was  not  at  war  with  his 
neighbours  was  suspected,  not  always  unjustly, 
of  conspiring  with  them  ;  and  vast  sums  of 
money  were  annually  expended  in  sowing  dis- 
sensions among  the  native  population/ 

^ "  Finally,  because  the  nature  of  Irishmen  is  such  that  for 
money  one  shall  have  the  son  to  war  against  the  father,  and 
the  father  against  the  child,  it  shall  be  necessary  the  King's 
grace  have  always  treasure  here,  as  a  present  remedy  against 
sudden  rebellions." — Alen  to  St.  Leger,  1537.  See  also 
Henry  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  and  Council,  July,  1520. 


80 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

In  the  Pale,  meanwhile,  the  authority  of  the 
crown  was  completely  over-shadowed  by  that 
of  the  house  of  Kildare  ;  and  it  was  only  by 
entrusting  the  government  to  the  head  of  that 
at  house  that  the  King  of  England  was  able  to 
preserve  a  show  of  sovereignty,  and  occasionally 
to  obtain  a  scanty  revenue.  Owing  to  their 
geographical  position  the  Kildare  Geraldines 
never  attained  to  such  complete  independence  as 
their  Desmond  kinsmen  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
their  proximity  to  the  capital  generally  enabled 
them  to  dictate  a  policy  to  the  government. 
The  Earls  held  the  entire  county  of  Kildare, 
with  parts  of  Meath,  Dublin  and  Carlow  ;  while 
their  castles  stretched  from  Strangford  on  the 
coast  of  Down  to  Adare  a  few  miles  from 
Limerick.^  The  aristocracy  of  the  Pale  looked 
upon  them  as  their  natural  leaders  ;  while  during 
three  generations  they  had  made  it  a  main 
object  of  their  policy  to  connect  themselves,  by 

^  Lands  belonging  to  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  1537. — Carew 
MSS.  Rental  book  of  the  Earl  of  Kildare  in  the  Journal  of 
the  Kilkenny  Archaeological  Society^  vol.  v,  vii.  Cf.  Lord  Deputy 
and  Council  to  Henry,  June  26,  1536. 

81  G 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

dynastic  alliances,  with  the  most  powerful  of 
the  Celtic  chieftains.  ^  During  the  fifty  years 
which  preceded  the  breach  between  the  King 
of  England  and  the  papacy  the  office  of  Lord 
Deputy  was  filled,  with  a  few  short  intervals, 
by  two  successive  Earls  of  Kildare.  Originally 
appointed  by  Edward  IV,  Gerald,  the  eighth 
Earl,  was,  in  spite  of  his  notorious  Yorkist 
proclivities,  retained  in  office  by  Henry  VH — 
probably  because  the  King  was  afraid  to  dis- 
place him.  "All  Ireland,"  the  Bishop  of 
Meath  is  said  to  have  complained  to  that 
prince,  "cannot  rule  this  Earl."  "Then  in 
good  faith,"  replied  the  King,  "this  Earl 
shall  rule  all  Ireland.""  He  died  in  office  in 
1513,  and  bequeathed  his  power  to  his  son,  who 
ruled  all  Ireland  with  undiminished  authority 
for  the  next  twenty  years.  Twice  removed 
from  office  he  was  twice  restored,  experience 
having  shown  that  it  was  impossible  to  govern 
his  country  in  his  absence.  Among  the  native 
lords    the    Earls     of    Ormond     and     Desmond 


^  A  daughter  of  the  seventh  Earl  of  Kildare  married  Henry 
O'Neil,  Prince  of  Tyrowen.  Of  the  daughters  of  the  eighth 
Earl,  Alice  was  married  to  her  first  cousin  Con  O'Neil,  Eleanor 
to  MacCarthy  Reagh  and  afterwards  to  Manus  O'Donnel, 
Margaret  to  the  eighth  Earl  of  Ormond,  and  Eustacia  to 
MacWilliam  Uachtar.  Mary,  daughter  of  the  ninth  Earl, 
was  married  to  Brian  O'Conor,  chief  of  Offaly,  and  her 
sister  Ellen  to  Fergananim  O'Carrol  of  Ely. — The  Earls  of 
Kildare,  pp.  42,  70-76,  1 21. 

2  Book  of  Howth,  p.  180. 

82 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

were  his  only  possible  competitors ;  while  the 
appointment  of  an  English  deputy  was  the 
signal  for  a  general  revolt  on  the  part  both 
of  Celts  and  colonists.  Kildare's  cousin,  the 
Earl  of  Desmond,  reigned  over  a  still  larger 
territory ;  but  the  Desmonds  had  practically  be- 
come independent  sovereigns,  and,  since  the 
judicial  murder  of  the  eighth  earl  sixty  years 
earlier,  his  descendants  claimed  and  enjoyed  the 
singular  privileges  of  never  attending  parliament 
or  entering  any  walled  city.^  The  Butlers  were 
frequently  employed,  and  always  with  the  most 
disastrous  results.  When  the  Earl  of  Ormond 
was  Lord  Deputy  it  was  impossible  for  him  to 
defend    the    four   shires,    "nor    scant    his    own 

^Thomas,  eighth  Earl  of  Desmond,  was  executed  at  Drogheda 
in  1467,  on  a  charge  of  connecting  himself  by  marriage  and 
fosterage  with  the  King's  Irish  enemies.  It  is  said,  however, 
that  the  reason  publicly  alleged  for  his  execution  was  a  mere 
pretence,  and  that  in  reality  he  fell  a  victim  to  the  hostility  of 
Elizabeth  Woodville,  the  wife  of  Edward  IV,  which  he  had 
incurred  by  endeavouring  to  persuade  that  sovereign  to  marry 
a  foreign  princess. — Report  on  the  State  of  Ireland,  1534. 
Submission  of  the  fourteenth  Earl  of  Desmond,  January  16, 
1 541.  Memorial  by  the  Earl  of  Desmond.  Carew  MSS. 
Davies  erroneously  states  that  Desmond  was  executed  for  taking 
coyne  and  livery. — Discovery^  p.  308.  Cf.  Ware,  Antiquities^ 
ch.  12,  where  the  act  of  attainder  is  cited,  and  Lodge,  Peerage 
of  Ireland^  I  69,  70.  Richard  III,  writing  to  the  ninth  Earl, 
September,  1484,  described  his  father  as  having  been  "extor- 
ciously  slain  and  murdered  by  colour  of  the  laws  within 
Ireland  by  certain  persons  then  having  the  governance  and 
rule  there,  against  all  manhood,  reason  and  good  conscience." — 
Gairdner,  Letters  and  Papers  illustrative  of  the  reigns  of  Richard 
III  and  Henry  FII,  I,  68. 

83 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

country";  the  Leinster  septs,  who  were  com- 
paratively quiet  while  Kildare  was  in  office, 
attacked  the  Pale,  and  Desmond  availed  himself 
of  his  rival's  absence  to  ravage  Tipperary.  ^ 

In  spite,  therefore,  of  the  inveterate  hostility 
of  Wolsey,  Kildare  continued  to  act  as  Deputy, 
with  only  two  short  intervals,  until  the  spring 
of  1534.  In  1 5 19,  it  is  true,  the  King  seems 
to  have  become  suddenly  aware  that  the  condi- 
tion of  Ireland  was  not  entirely  satisfactory  :  the 
Earl  was  ordered  to  repair  to  London  to  answer 
charges  of  conspiracy  and  extortion;^  and  Lord 
Surrey,  better  known  by  his  later  title  of  Duke 
of  Norfolk,  was  sent  to  Ireland  to  carry  out 
what  is  sometimes  called  a  vigorous  policy. 
The  new  Lord  Deputy  went  to  work  with 
energy,  and  has  been  rewarded  with  the  applause 
of  historians  who  cannot  understand  that  spas- 
modic acts  of  violence  are  a  sign  not  of  strength 
1520-  but  of  weakness.  Collecting  such  forces  as  he 
1 521     could    muster    he    marched    from    one    end    of 

^  "And,  if  any  labour  be  made  unto  your  Grace  to  make 
the  Earl  of  Ossory  or  his  son  Deputy,  in  no  wise  to  condescend 
thereunto ;  for,  if  they  had  the  rule,  being  so  far  off  as  they  be, 
and  also  at  war  with  the  Earl  of  Desmond  and  O'Brien,  it 
shall  be  impossible  for  them  to  defend  the  four  shires,  nor 
scant  their  own  country ;  and,  when  they  shall  come  into  the 
four  shires  they  must  come  strong,  and  shall  spend  so  much  in 
the  country  that  they  shall  do  more  hurt  far  than  good." — 
Norfolk  to  Wolsey,  July  3,  1528. 

^  "  Seditious  practices,  conspiracies  and  subtle  drifts." — 
Henry  to  Surrey,  July,  1520. 

84 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

Ireland  to  the  other,  burning,  plundering  and 
slaying.  Chieftain  after  chieftain  was  defeated, 
submitted,  and  revolted  again,  as  soon  as  the 
Lord  Deputy  was  occupied  elsewhere.  The 
havoc  wrought  was  unspeakable  ;  but  it  is  easier 
to  lay  waste  a  country  than  to  subdue  it,  and,  after 
eighteen  months  of  useless  butchery,  Surrey  was 
compelled  to  confess  that  his  mission  had  been 
a  failure  and  to  request  to  be  relieved  of  his 
functions.  He  still  thought  that  the  reduction 
of  the  island  might  be  practicable  ;  but  he 
acknowledged  that  it  would  be  a  more  difficult 
matter  than  he  had  at  first  anticipated,  and  told 
the  King  with  great  frankness  that  he  must  be 
prepared  to  pay  for  it  both  in  men  and  money.  ^ 
Henry,  who  shrank  from  expense,  if  not  from 
bloodshed,  resolved  to  adjourn  the  conquest  to  a 
more  convenient  season. 

After  two  more  years  of  anarchy — for  Surrey 
had  been  succeeded  by  the  titular  Earl  of  Ormond,  ^ 

^  Surrey  to  Henry,  July  31,  1521. 

^  After  the  death  of  the  seventh  Earl  of  Ormond,  in  1515, 
the  succession  was  disputed  between  Sir  Pierce  Butler,  claiming 
as  heir  male,  and  Sir  Thomas  Boleyn,  afterwards  Earl  of 
Wiltshire,  claiming  as  heir  general.  The  former  was  in  actual 
possession  of  the  Earldom,  and  was  always  known  in  Ireland  as 
Earl  of  Ormond ;  but,  although  the  title  was  sometimes  given 
to  him,  even  in  official  documents,  his  claim  was  not,  at  this 
time,  recognized  by  the  Crown.  Henry,  writing  to  Surrey, 
October,  1521,  calls  him  "Sir  Pierce  Butler,  pretending  him- 
self to  be  Earl  of  Ormond."  In  1527  he  resigned  his  claim  to 
the  earldom  in  favour  of  Lord  Wiltshire,  and  received  instead 
the  title  of  Earl  of  Ossory.     Ten  years  later  the  old  title  was 

85 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

whose  appointment  was  attended  with  the  usual 
consequences — Kildare  was  sent  back  to  Ireland, 
being,  by  common  consent,  the  only  person 
capable  of  restoring  order.  An  interval  of 
delusive  tranquillity  followed  ;  but  in  1527  the 
Earl  was  again  summoned  to  England,  and  this 
time  on  a  more  definite  charge.  The  Earl  of 
Desmond  had  engaged  a  few  years  earlier  in  a 
treasonable  negotiation  with  France.  It  was 
not  pretended  that  Kildare  had  been  personally 
concerned  in  this  transaction  ;  but  he  was  be- 
lieved, perhaps  justly,  to  have  displayed  no  very 
ardent  zeal  for  the  apprehension  of  his  kinsman. 
On  his  arrival  in  London,  Kildare  was  denounced 
as  a  traitor  by  the  Cardinal,  "  rather  for  the 
deadly  hatred  he  bare  his  house  than  for  any 
great  matter  he  had  wherewith  to  charge  his 
person."^  He  defended  himself  with  an  elo- 
quence and  skill  which  won  the  admiration  even 
of  his  enemies  ;  but  his  defence  was  pronounced 
unsatisfactory,  and  he  was  detained  for  some 
months  in  the  Tower,  until  the  critical  con- 
dition of  Ireland  once  more  compelled  Henry 
to  appeal  to  him  for  assistance. 

During  the  two  years  which  had  elapsed  since 
his  departure,   the   Irish  government  had  been 

restored  to  him,  Lord  Wiltshire  "being  content  to  be  named 
Earl  of  Ormond  in  England,  semblably  as  there  be  two  Lord 
Dacres,  the  one  of  the  north,  and  the  other  of  the  south." — 
Carew  MSS. 

^  Stanihurst,  p.  283. 

86 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

growing  daily  more  contemptible.  Lord  Delvin, 
Kildarc's  successor,  was  ignominiously  kidnapped 
by  O'Conor  Faly,  and  only  released  on  the  pay-  1528 
ment  of  a  large  ransom  ;  ^  and,  after  the  Earl  of 
Ossory  had  been  suffered  to  give  fresh  proofs 
of  his  incompetence,  Sir  William  Skeffington 
was  appointed  Deputy,  with  instructions  to 
govern,  by  Kildare's  advice.^  It  can  scarcely 
be  said  that  this  arrangement  was  a  happy  one  ; 
Kildare  did  not  affect  to  conceal  his  contempt 
for  a  Deputy  who  had  neither  rank,  ability,  nor 
local  knowledge  ;  and  Skeffington,  like  all 
Englishmen,  obstinately  refused  to  be  guided 
by  anyone  who  was  so  unfortunate  as  to  be 
personally  acquainted  with  the  condition  of  the 
country.  After  three  years  of  friction  Skeffing- 
ton was  recalled,  and  Kildare  became  Deputy 
for  the  third  time.  ^ 

But,  although  restored  to  office,  the  earl  never  1532 
regained  his  old  ascendancy.  Skeffington,  who 
possessed  talents  for  intrigue,  if  none  for  govern- 
ment, bitterly  resented  his  dismissal,  and  plotted 
persistently  against  his  successor.  He  was 
assisted  by  a  much  abler  man.  John  Alen,  an 
ecclesiastic  of  obscure  origin  but  great  talents, 
had  been  one  of  Wolsey's  most  active  agents  in 

^  The  Council  of  Ireland  to  Wolsey,  May  15,  1528  ;  Inge 
and  Bermingham  to  Norfolk,  May  15  ;  Butler  to  Inge,  May 
20  ;  Ossory  to  Inge,  May  21  ;  Ossory  to  Henry,  June  10. 

^  Instructions  to  Sir  William  Skeffington,  1529. 

^Stanihurst,  p.  285. 

87 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

the  suppression  of  the  English  monasteries,  and 
had  subsequently  been  appointed,  through  the 
Cardinal's  influence,  Archbishop  of  Dublin  and 
Lord  Chancellor  of  Ireland.  On  Kildare's  resto- 
ration he  was  deprived  of  the  great  seal,  which 
was  transferred  to  George  Cromer,  Archbishop 
of  Armagh,  but  retained  the  authority  insepar- 
able from  a  great  ecclesiastical  position,  and  was 
the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  English  or  anti- 
Geraldine  party  in  the  council.  The  Arch- 
bishop was  supported  by  the  Master  of  the 
Rolls — his  namesake  and  probably  his  kinsman 
— by  Thomas  Cannon,  secretary  to  the  late 
deputy,  and  by  Robert  Cowley,  a  gentleman 
who  had  been  in  the  employment  of  the  eighth 
Earl  of  Kildare,  but  had  afterwards  conceived  a 
grudge  against  his  son.  It  is  scarcely  necessary 
to  add  that  the  enemies  of  the  Lord  Deputy  could 
always  rely  on  the  assistance  of  the  Earl  of  Ossory 
and  of  his  son.  Lord  Butler. ' 

Nevertheless,  so  long  as  the  great  Earl 
retained  his  mental  and  bodily  faculties,  the 
King  continued  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  his 
traducers.  Kildare  might  not  be  an  ideal 
viceroy,  but  Ossory  was  the  only  available 
alternative  ;  and  Henry,  profiting  by  experience, 
was  fully  determined  never  again  to  surrender 
Ireland  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  house  of 
Butler.      In  December   1532,  however,  the  Earl 

^  Stanihurst,  pp.  287-288.    Roy's  Satire  on  Wolsey,  Harleian 
Miscellany^  ix,  3.     For  Cowley,  see  also  BookofHowth^\i.  192. 

88 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

was  severely  wounded  while  besieging  a  castle 
of  O'Carroll,  and  from  that  hour  he  was  a 
mere  wreck.  He  who  had  of  late  been  active, 
eloquent,  sagacious,  became  dull,  lethargic,  in- 
capable of  sustained  exertion,  and  of  articulate 
speech.'  The  control  of  affairs  now  passed 
completely  into  the  hands  of  the  anti-Geraldine 
Party,  and  Sir  John  Alen,  as  the  mouthpiece  of 
that  party,  was  despatched  to  England  to  lay 
the  complaints  of  the  council  before  the  King. 
The  letters  presented  by  that  functionary  to 
Cromwell,  and  communicated  by  Cromwell  to 
his  master,  contained  a  detailed  account  of  the 
miserable  condition  of  the  country  and  a 
passionate  indictment  of  the  policy  of  the  Lord 
Deputy.^  The  general  truth  of  the  story  was 
undeniable,  but  Kildare  was  scarcely  more 
responsible  than  his  accusers.  Henry,  however, 
was  in  an  irritable  mood,  and  was  not  disposed 
to  inquire  too  closely  into  the  justice  of  accusa- 
tions which  afforded  him  a  pretext  for  venting 
his  ill-humour.  Alen,  moreover,  had  power- 
ful auxiliaries  in  London.  The  Butlers  had 
recently  acquired  increased  influence  owing   to 

^ "  He  never  after  enjoyed  his  limbs,  nor  delivered  his 
words  in  good  plight :  otherwise  like  enough  to  have  been 
longer  forborne  in  consideration  of  his  many  noble  qualities, 
great  good  services,  and  the  state  of  those  times." — Stanihurst, 
p.  285.     Cf.  Walter    Cowley   to  Cromwell,   December   21, 

1532. 

'  Instructions  to  John  Alen,  1533.     Report  to   Cromwell, 

1534- 

89 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

the  King's  marriage  with  their  kinswoman,^  and 
that  influence  was  steadily  employed  to  effect 
the  downfall  of  their  hereditary  enemy.  The 
enormous  power  of  Cromwell  was  exerted  on 
the  same  side.  That  able  but  unscrupulous 
minister  felt  towards  the  old  nobility,  of  whose 
contempt  for  his  plebeian  origin  he  was  keenly 
conscious,  a  hatred  scarcely  inferior  in  intensity 
to  that  with  which  he  regarded  the  monastic 
orders  ;  and,  as  the  friend  and  disciple  of  Wolsey, 
he  had  special  reasons  for  hostility  towards  the 
house  of  Kildare.  The  anti-papal  feeling  was 
at  its  height  in  English  political  circles ;  and 
the  Geraldines,  although  they  had  not  yet  openly 
declared  themselves,  were  probably  suspected  of 
looking  upon  the  recent  changes  with  no  friendly 
eye.  In  February  1534,  Kildare  was  sum- 
moned to  London  to  give  an  account  of  his 
stewardship  for  the  third  time.^ 

With  many  misgivings  the  aged  chieftain 
prepared  to  obey.  In  order  to  disarm  suspicion, 
or  possibly  because  the  King  had  not  even  yet 
resolved  to  break  with  him,  he  had  been  in- 
formed that  he  might  choose  some  person  in 
whom  he  had  confidence,  to  govern  the  country 
until  his  return.^  He  selected  his  eldest  son, 
Thomas,  Lord  OfFaly,   a  brave,  handsome   and 

^  Anne  Boleyn,  great  grand-daughter  of  the  seventh  Earl 
of  Ormond. 

=^  28  Henry  VIII,  c.  i.     Henry  to  Ossory,  May  31,  1534. 
3  Uid, 

90 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

accomplished  youth,  then  in  his  twenty-first 
year.  To  him  he  committed  the  sword,  en- 
treating him,  in  a  speech  of  singular  solemnity 
and  pathos,  to  be  guided  by  the  counsels  of 
those  who,  although  his  inferiors  in  rank,  were 
his  superiors  in  experience  ;  and  set  sail  a  few 
days  later  on  that  memorable  journey  from 
which  he  was  never  destined  to  return.  On  his 
arrival  in  London  he  was  again  examined  before 
the  council — the  same  council  before  which  he 
had  triumphantly  defended  himself  only  a  few 
years  earlier.  But  Kildare,  in  1534,  was  no 
longer  the  man  that  he  had  been  in  1528. 
Charged  with  using  the  King's  artillery  for  the 
defence  of  his  own  castles,  the  Earl  mumbled  an 
unintelligible  reply.  His  hesitation,  due  in 
reality  to  his  recent  wound,  was  ascribed  by  his 
accusers  to  a  guilty  conscience,  and  he  was  once 
more  committed  to  the  Tower.  ^ 

In  Ireland,  meanwhile,  all  was  chaos.  The  1534 
young  Vice-Deputy  inherited  his  father's  popu- 
larity, and,  perhaps,  his  father's  talents  ;  but  he 
was  hot-headed  and  inexperienced,  and  he  fell 
an  easy  victim  to  the  veteran  conspirators  who 
had  overthrown  his  father.  The  first  meeting 
of  the  council,  after  Kildare's  departure,  was 
disturbed  by  angry  bickerings.  Before  the  end 
of  May  it  was  known  in  Dublin  that  the  Earl 
was  a  prisoner,  and  that  Skeffington  had  been 

^  Stanihurst,  p.  287. 
91 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

appointed  to  succeed  him.  From  that  hour  the 
rival  factions  no  longer  pretended  to  conceal 
their  hostility.  Offaly,  alarmed  for  his  father's 
safety,  began  to  consider  the  possibility  of  resist- 
ance. The  Alens  and  their  party,  afraid  above 
all  things  lest  Kildare  should  return — as  he  had 
twice  returned  already — to  take  a  terrible  ven- 
geance on  his  enemies,  resolved  to  guard  against 
such  a  contingency  by  goading  the  Vice-Deputy 
into  a  premature  and  hopeless  rebellion.  A 
letter,  ostensibly  written  in  London,  but  com- 
posed, as  there  is  reason  to  believe,  by  the 
Archbishop,  was  addressed  to  one  of  Skeffington's 
friends  in  Dublin,  informing  him  that  Kildare 
"was  already  cut  shorter,  as  his  issue  presently 
should  be";  and,  by  circumstances  ingeniously 
contrived  to  wear  the  appearance  of  accident, 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  "a  gentleman 
retaining  to  the  Lord  Thomas,"  who,  on  be- 
coming acquainted  with  the  contents,  made 
haste  to  communicate  them  to  James  Delahide, 
one  of  Offaly's  most  trusted  advisers.  Delahide, 
not  doubting  the  truth  of  the  story,  at  once 
informed  his  master,  at  the  same  time  inciting 
him  to  rebellion,  "cloaking  the  odious  name  of 
treason  with  the  zealous  revengement  of  his 
father's  execution,  and  the  wary  defence  of  his 
own  person."  ^ 

On  June    iith   Offaly,  attended  by   a   body 

^  Stanihurst,  p.  289.     Cf.  the  examination  of  Robert  Reilly, 
August  5,  1536. — Carew  MSS. 

92 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

guard  of  seven  score  horsemen,  galloped  through 
the  streets  of  Dublin  to  the  Abbey  of  St.  Mary, 
where  the  council  were  assembled  to  receive 
him.  Entering  the  council  chamber  at  the 
head  of  his  armed  retainers,  he  surrendered 
the  sword  of  state,  "already  bathed  in  the 
Geraldines'  blood  and  now  newly  whetted  in 
hope  of  a  further  destruction,"  to  the  astonished 
councillors,  declaring  that  he  had  received  it 
with  an  oath  to  use  it  for  their  benefit,  and 
would  not  stain  his  honour  by  turning  it  to 
their  destruction.  He  was  no  longer  Henry's 
Deputy  but  his  foe,  and  desired  rather  to 
meet  him  in  the  field  than  to  serve  him  in 
office. 

The  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  the  steady  friend 
of  his  house,  besought  him,  with  tears  in  his 
eyes,  to  desist  from  so  wild  and  hopeless  an 
enterprise.  For  a  moment  the  young  lord  seemed 
disposed  to  listen,  but  his  followers,  who, 
although  unable  to  understand  the  Archbishop's 
words,  conjectured  his  meaning  from  his  gestures, 
interrupted  him  with  jeers  ;  an  Irish  harper 
raised  a  pasan  in  honour  of  the  Geraldines  ;  and, 
roughly  telling  the  old  man  that  he  had  come 
not  to  consult  with  him  as  to  what  he  should 
do,  but  to  tell  him  what  he  meant  to  do,  OfFaly 
left  the  room  with  his  attendants  and  began  to 
collect  his  followers  on  Oxmantown  Green. 
The  council  dispersed  in  a  panic,  and  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,   accompanied   by  the    Chief 

93 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

Baron  and  a  few  others  who  had  special  reasons 
to  dread  the  vengeance  of  the  insurgents,  took 
refuge  in  the  Castle.  ^ 

Although    ill-concerted   and   feebly   followed 
up   the  rebellion  which  now  broke   out  was — 
when    considered   in   connection   with    the  ex- 
communication   pronounced  three  months   pre- 
viously by   Clement    and    the    attitude    of  the 
continental   powers — the   most  formidable  with 
which  the  Irish  government  had  yet  had  to  con- 
tend.  Until  about  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century 
the  condition  of  Ireland  had  been  rather  disgrace- 
ful  than   dangerous   to    her    titular    sovereigns. 
Insurrections  had  been  frequent  ;  but  they  had 
had   their  origin   in  local   grievances,   and   had 
attracted    scarcely    any    attention    abroad.      No 
English  faction  had,  even  when  in  arms  against 
the  crown,  attempted  to  connect  its  cause  with 
that  of  the  insurgent  Irish  ;  nor,  with  the  single 
exception  of  Bruce,  had  any  foreign  sovereign 
made    use    of   Irish    assistance    in    a  war  with 
England.     But    the    support   which,    after    the 
battle  of  Bosworth,  the  Yorkist  claimants  had 
received  in  Ireland  had  attracted  the  notice  of 
both  the  foreign  and  domestic  enemies  of  the 
Tudor  dynasty.     In   1523,   while  the  relations 
of  the  European  powers  were  as  yet  unembittered 
1523    by  religious  differences,  James,  eleventh  Earl  of 
Desmond,  engaged   in  a  secret   correspondence 

^  Stanihurst,  pp.  289-292.     Finglas  to  Cromwell,  July  2i> 
1534. 

94 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

with  Francis  I.^  Foiled  in  this  attempt  by  the 
diplomatic  revolution  which  brought  England 
into  alliance  with  France,  the  same  nobleman 
engaged  a  few  years  later  in  a  similar  corre-  152" 
spondence  with  Charles  V.^  This  negotiation 
also  came  to  nothing  ;  the  Earl  died  suddenly 
before  any  definite  agreement  had  been  arrived 
at,  and  his  successor,  an  old  man  and  unambi- 
tious, had  no  mind  for  so  perilous  an  enterprise. 
But  so  long  as  Charles  continued  hostile  the 
renewal  of  the  negotiation  was  always  possible  ; 
and  in  July  1534,  a  few  weeks  after  Offaly's 
resignation,  it  was  reported  from  Waterford  that 
the  imperial  agent  who  had  visited  Desmond 
five  years  earlier,  was  once  more  intriguing  with 
the  disaffected  chiefs  of  Munster.^    The  moment 

^  Articles  between  Francis  I,  King  of  France,  and  James, 
Earl  of  Desmond. — Cotton  AISS.^  Titus,  b.  xi,  194.  In  the 
Record  Office  is  the  draft  of  a  bill  for  the  attainder  of  James, 
Earl  of  Desmond,  for  treason  in  entertaining  "  the  Lord 
Kendall "  [the  Comte  de  Candalle]  and  other  Frenchmen, 
and  in  corresponding  with  Francis  I.  This  bill  was  trans- 
mitted to  the  Irish  government,  but  was  never  passed,  as  no 
parliament  was  held  in  Ireland  between  the  date  of  this  nego- 
tiation and  the  death  of  Desmond  in  1529. 

-Froude's  Pi/grim,  pp.  169-175. 

^ "  This  instant  day  report  is  made  by  the  vicar  of  Dun- 
garvan  that  the  Emperor  hath  sent  certain  letters  unto  the 
Earl  of  Desmond  by  the  same  chaplain  or  ambassador  that  was 
sent  unto  James,  the  late  Earl  :  and  the  common  bruit  is 
there,  in  those  quarters,  that  his  practice  is  to  win  the  Geral- 
dines  and  the  O'Briens ;  and  that  the  Emperor  intendeth 
shortly  to  send  an  army  to  invade  the  cities  and  towns  by  the 
sea-coasts  of  this  land." — William  Wise  to  Cromwell,  July  12, 
1 534.     Cf,  The  Pi/grim,  pp.  1 75-176. 

95 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

was  well  chosen.     The   King  of  England   was 
isolated  abroad  and  unpopular  at  home.      During 
the  first  five  and  twenty   years   of  his   reign    it 
had  been  the  great  object  of  his  foreign   policy 
to  maintain  the  balance  between  the  French  and 
Spanish  monarchies,  and  in  this  policy  he  had 
hitherto    been    supported   by    the    Pope.      The 
Bishop  of  Rome  was  one  of  those  petty  princes 
who  had  most  reason  to  dread  the  rise  of  a  uni- 
versal  monarchy  ;  and   Clement,   who   was   far 
more  a  politician  than  a  priest,  exhibited  during 
the  earlier   years  of   his    pontificate  at  least  as 
much  anxiety  to  disturb  the  political  as  to  pre- 
serve the  religious  tranquillity  of  Europe.     The 
■excommunication    of    March,     1534,    deprived 
Henry  of  his  most  serviceable  ally,  and  other- 
wise  greatly  increased  his  difKculties.      Losing 
sight    of  every   other  consideration    in   his  de- 
sire to  punish    the    schismatical    monarch,    the 
Sovereign   Pontiff  became  thenceforth  as  eager 
to  promote  as  he   had  previously  been  anxious 
to  prevent  a  cordial  understanding  between  the 
two  great  continental  monarchies.    The  Emperor, 
wounded  alike  in  his  religious  bigotry  and  in  his 
family  pride,  was  prepared  to  make  great  sacri- 
fices for  the  same  end.     The  King   of  France 
Tiad  lately  been  in  alliance  with  England  ;   but 
the  King  of  France  was  engaged  in  persecuting 
the  Protestants  in  his  own  country,  and  he  might 
reasonably  plead   that   treaties  concluded  while 
the    unity  of   Christendom   was    yet   unbroken 

96 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

were  no  longer  binding  under  such  strangely 
altered  circumstances.  A  coalition  between  those 
three  powers,  although  never  actually  accom- 
plished, seemed  at  this  time  on  the  verge  of 
accomplishment  ;  and,  had  a  Catholic  army 
landed  in  England  in  the  summer  of  1534,  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  it  would  have  received 
the  support  of  a  considerable  number  of  English- 
men. Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when 
the  heir  of  the  Kildare  Geraldines  set  up  the 
standard  of  rebellion  before  the  walls  of  Dublin. 

Offaly  himself  had  no  other  object  than  to  1534 
avenge  the  supposed  death  of  his  father,  and  to 
obtain  the  government  of  Ireland  for  his  own 
family  ;  but  he  may  have  hoped,  by  merging 
his  private  grievances  in  the  religious  quarrel, 
to  secure  the  support  of  allies  with  whom  the 
King  of  England  would  be  unable  to  contend.^ 
In  Ireland,  for  the  moment  at  least,  he  was 
master  of  the  situation.  Half  the  gentlemen  of 
the  Pale  were  his  friends,  and  those  who  loved 
him  least  had  not  the  spirit  to  resist  him.  The 
royal  troops  were  scanty  and  inefficient,  and 
many  weeks  must  elapse  before  reinforcements 
could  be  sent  from  England.  Accompanied  by 
his  brother-in-law,    Brian    O 'Conor,    the   rebel 

^  "  The  said  Earl's  son,  brethren,  kinsmen  and  adherents 
do  make  their  avaunt  and  boast  that  they  be  of  the  Pope's 
sect  and  band,  and  him  will  they  serve  against  the  King  and 
all  his  partakers." — Robert  Cowley  to  Cromwell,  June,  1534. 
Cf.  Alen  to  Cromwell,  December  26,  1534. 

97  H 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

chief  ranged  up  and  down  the  four  shires,  impos- 
ing an  oath  of  fideHty  on  the  inhabitants,  and 
robbing  and  imprisoning  the  few  who  ventured 
to  refuse  compliance.^  From  Ossory,  and  from 
Ossory  alone,  effective  resistance  was  to  be  feared  ; 
and  Offaly  now  exerted  himself  to  detach  that 
powerful  nobleman  from  the  English  interest. 
With  the  Earl's  eldest  son,  James,  Lord  Butler, 
notwithstanding  the  hereditary  feud  between 
their  families,  he  had  long  been  on  the  most 
friendly  terms  ;  and  to  him  he  now  wrote, 
"  covenanting  to  divide  with  him  half  the  king- 
dom, would  he  associate  him  in  this  enterprise." 
Butler,  who  understood  better  than  his  kinsman 
the  relative  strength  of  the  contending  parties, 
replied  coldly  that  Ireland  was  not  his  to  divide  ; 
and  that,  were  it  otherwise,  "  he  would  rather 
die  his  enemy  than  live  his  partner."  ^ 

Nettled  by  this  reply  the  Irish  leader  prepared 
to  invade  Kilkenny.  The  capital  was  already  at 
his  mercy.  The  O'Tooles  of  Wicklow,  a  sept 
who  had  long  been  thorns  in  the  side  of  the  Pale, 
had  availed  themselves  of  the  general  anarchy 
to  lay  waste  Fingal,  the  richest  part  of  the 
island,  and  almost  the  only  district  in  which  the 
Irish  had  not  yet  obtained  a  footing ;  and  the 
citizens  of  Dublin,  sallying  forth  to  the  relief  of 
their  neighbours,  had  been  defeated  with  heavy 

^  Finglas  to  Cromwell,  July  2i.  Rawson  to  Henry,  August 
17.     Campion,  p.  176. 
^  Stanihurst,  p.  293. 

98 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

slaughter  near  Kilmainham.  Encouraged  by 
this  success,  OfFaly  appeared  before  the  city 
gates  and  informed  the  citizens  that,  although 
by  the  laws  of  war  he  would  be  justified  in 
giving  up  the  city  to  pillage,  he  would  under- 
take to  preserve  their  lives  and  property  if  they 
would  allow  his  troops  a  free  passage  to  the 
Castle,  which  was  still  held  for  the  King  by 
the  constable,  John  White.  The  magistrates, 
seized  with  terror,  sent  in  hot  haste  to  the 
constable  to  inform  him  that  resistance  was 
impracticable.  White  acknowledged  the  force 
of  their  arguments,  but  entreated  them  to  pro- 
tract the  negotiations  for  a  few  hours,  during 
which  time  he  hoped  to  lay  in  a  stock  of  pro- 
visions which  would  enable  him  to  stand  a  siege. ' 
The  negotiation  took  place  on  the  morning 
of  July  27th.  On  the  evening  of  the  same 
day  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin — who,  as  has 
already  been  mentioned,  had  taken  refuge  in  the 
Castle  six  weeks  earlier — attempted,  in  an  evil 
hour  for  himself,  to  escape  to  England.  A 
vessel  manned  by  some  of  his  servants  was 
brought  to  Dam's  Gate ;  and  the  archbishop 
succeeded  in  getting  on  board  unobserved,  but, 
by  the  negligence  or  treachery  of  his  pilot,  was 
stranded  a  few  hours  later  at  Clontarf.  From 
Clontarf  he  made  his  way  on  foot  to  Tartane, 
where  he  hoped  to  lie  concealed  until  another 

'  Stanihurst,  p.  294. 

99 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

vessel  could  be  got  ready.  But  his  movements 
had  already  been  traced ;  and,  within  a  few- 
hours  of  his  arrival,  the  house  in  which  he 
had  taken  refuge  was  surrounded  by  a  party 
of  the  insurgents  commanded  by  OfFaly  in 
person.  No  attempt  at  resistance  was  made. 
John  Teling  and  Nicholas  Wafer,  two  of 
Offaly's  servants,  broke  into  the  old  man's 
bedroom,  dragged  him  from  his  bed,  and 
brought  him  bare-foot  and  bare-headed  to  their 
master.  Alen,  throwing  himself  upon  his  knees 
before  his  captor,  "with  a  pitiful  countenance 
and  lamentable  voice  besought  him,  for  the 
love  of  God,  not  to  remember  former  injuries, 
but  to  weigh  his  present  calamity  ;  and,  what 
malice  soever  he  bare  his  person,  yet  to  respect 
his  calling  and  vocation,  in  that  his  enemy  was 
a  Christian,  and  he  among  Christians  an  arch- 
bishop." Offaly,  touched  with  compassion, 
turned  to  his  attendants,  and  bade  them  "take 
away  the  churl";  meaning,  as  he  afterwards 
declared,  that  the  archbishop  should  be  de- 
tained a  prisoner ;  but  his  followers,  who  had 
scant  reverence  for  the  episcopal  office,  "rather 
of  malice  than  of  ignorance  misconstruing  his 
words,"  murdered  the  old  man  in  cold  blood  as 
soon  as  their  leader's  back  was  turned.  ^ 

^  Stanihurst,  pp.  294-295.  28  Henry  VIII,  c.  i.  Deposi- 
tion of  Robert  Reilly,  August  5,  1 536. — Carew  MSS.  Rawson 
to  Henry,  August  7,  1534.  "The  Curse  given  Thomas 
Fitzgerald  and  others  for  killing  of  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin." 

100 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

White,  meanwhile,  having  first  laid  in  a  large 
stock  of  provisions,  had  informed  the  citizens 
that  they  might  make  v^hat  terms  they  pleased 
v^ith  the  insurgents.  The  citizens  at  once 
threw  open  their  gates ;  and  Offaly,  leaving  a 
sufficient  force  to  besiege  the  Castle,  set  out  at 
last  upon  his  long-deferred  expedition  against 
the  Butlers.  He  had  already  delayed  too  long. 
Ossory  had  taken  steps  for  the  defence  of  his 
own  territory  while  the  rebels  were  loitering 
near  Dublin  ;  and  in  the  first  week  of  August 
he  was  able  to  carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's 
country,  and  to  lay  waste  the  Geraldine  estates 
in  Kildare.^  A  few  days  later  the  fortune  of 
war  turned.  Before  the  end  of  the  month 
Offaly  had  expelled  the  intruders"  from  the  Pale, 
captured  his  rival's  castle  of  Tullow  on  the 
Slaney,  and  was  ravaging  the  fertile  plain  of 
Kilkenny,  when  his  victorious  career  was 
arrested  by  the  news  which  reached  him  from 
Dublin.  A  messenger  had  arrived  from  Henry, 
bringing  an  imperious  order  to  the  citizens  to 
break  the  truce,  "  which  with  no  traitor  should 
be  kept":  the  citizens  had  closed  their  gates 
and  turned  their  arms  against  the  besiegers  ;  and 
the  latter,  surprised  and  outnumbered,  had  been 
cut  to  pieces  almost  to  a  man.^  If  the  city  was 
to  be  recovered  before  the  arrival  of  the  Deputy 
there  was  no  time  to  be  lost  ;  but  OfFaly  could 

^  Ossory  to  Cowley,  June,  1535. 
'  Stanihurst,  p.  296. 

101 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

not  bring  himself  to  evacuate  Kilkenny  without 
a  final  effort  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  the 
Butlers.  He  addressed  himself  to  Ossory  in 
person,  and  renewed  the  proposal  which  he  had 
previously  made  to  his  son.  For  the  second 
time  the  offer  was  contemptuously  refused.  To 
retreat  with  an  unsubdued  and  implacable  enemy 
in  his  rear  would  have  been  madness  ;  and  Offaly, 
although  fully  conscious  of  the  danger  of  delay, 
resolved  to  make  a  last  attempt  to  reduce  his 
kinsmen  to  subjection.  Aided  by  O'Neil,  who 
had  at  last  arrived  from  Ulster,  he  gave  battle 
to  the  Butlers  near  Thomastown.  The  Earl 
was  defeated,  and  his  son  severely  wounded  ; 
but  the  delay  saved  Dublin.^ 

Victorious  in  the  south,  the  rebel  leader 
rapidly  retraced  his  steps.  His  ammunition, 
with  which  he  had  been  ill  supplied  from  the 
first,  was  exhausted  ;  but  he  still  hoped  to  reduce 
the  capital  by  famine.^  The  Leinster  chiefs — 
MacMurrough,  O'Moore,  O'Conor,  O'Byrne 
and  others — formed  a  ring  around  the  southern 

^  Ossory  to  Cowley,  June,  1535.  The  Earl  makes  no 
allusion  in  this  letter  to  Offaly's  previous  negotiation  with  his 
son.  Stanihurst,  on  the  other  hand,  is  silent  as  to  the  second 
negotiation  ;  and  it  is  possible  that  both  writers  may  refer  to 
the  same  transaction. 

^  "The  rebel,  which  chiefly  trusteth  in  his  ordnance,  which 
he  hath  of  the  King's,  hath  in  effect  consumed  all  his  shoot ; 
and,  except  he  winneth  the  Castle  of  Dublin,  he  is  destitute 
of  shoot,  which  is  a  great  comfort  and  advantage  to  the  King's 
army." — Alen  to  Cromwell,  October  4,  1534. 

102 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

border  of  the  Pale,  and  the  Butlers  were  for  the 
moment  paralysed.  In  the  first  week  of  Sep- 
tember the  communications  of  the  city  were 
cut  off.  During  the  next  month  a  few  sallies 
were  made,  and  once,  at  least,  the  citizens  are 
said  to  have  gained  a  victory  ;  but  it  was  not  a 
great  one,  and  by  the  beginning  of  October  the 
condition  of  the  defenders  was  desperate.  "  For 
the  love  of  God,"  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  wrote 
to  Cromwell  on  the  fourth  of  that  month,  "  let 
some  aid  be  sent  to  Dublin  ;  for  the  loss  of  that 
city  and  the  Castle  were  the  plain  subversion  of 
the  land."  A  week  later  Ossory  again  cut  his 
way  through  the  Irish  lines,  and  once  more 
carried  fire  and  sword  into  Kildare.  For  three 
days  he  laid  waste  the  Geraldine  estates,  burning 
houses,  destroying  crops,  and  putting  man, 
woman  and  child  to  the  sword. ^  On  the  four- 
teenth Offaly  concluded  a  six  weeks'  truce  with 
the  citizens,  and  marched  to  the  relief  of  his 
tenants.  "  The  covenant  of  the  truce  was  that 
the  said  city  of  Dublin  should  get  to  the  said 
traitor  his  pardon  of  your  Highness  and  a  depu- 
tation of  all  Ireland  for  term  of  his  life,  or  else 
to  deliver  him  the  said  city  at  the  said  day.  And 
upon  the  same  he  had  three  pledges  of  the  best 
men  of  the  said  city  ;  and,  as  we  be  credibly 
informed,    he    hath    sixteen     or    more    of  the 

^  Ossory  to   Cowley,    June,    1535.     Alen    to    Cromwell, 
October  4,  1534. 

103 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

sons    and    heirs   of   the   best   men   of   the   said 
city."^ 

On  the  same  day  the  Lord  Deputy,  accom- 
panied by  Sir  William  Brereton,  Captain 
Salisbury,  and  the  largest  army  which  had 
yet  been  seen  in  Ireland,  sailed  at  length  from 
Beaumaris,  and,  being  driven  out  of  his  course 
by  a  storm,  arrived  on  the  fifteenth  at  Lambay 
Island,  ten  miles  north  of  Dublin.  There  they 
remained  for  the  night,  and  there,  on  the 
morning  of  the  sixteenth,  the  new^s  reached  them 
that  the  city  had  been  compelled  to  capitulate. 
A  council  of  w^r  was  held  and,  after  some 
deliberation,  it  w^as  agreed  that  Brereton  and 
Salisbury  should  attempt  the  relief  of  the  capital, 
while  Skeffington,  with  the  main  body  of  the 
army,  proceeded  by  sea  to  Waterford.  On  the 
seventeenth  Brereton  entered  Dublin  harbour  and 
found  that  the  extent  of  the  disaster  had  been  ex- 
aggerated ;  but  another  party,  which  landed 
about  the  same  time  near  the  Skerries,  was  less 
fortunate,  being  promptly  cut  to  pieces  by  the 
insurgents.^ 

^  Sir  William  Brereton  and  John  Salisbury  to  Henry,  Novem- 
ber 4,  1534. 

^  Brereton  and  Salisbury  to  Henry,  November  4.  Skeffing- 
ton to  Henry,  November  11.  "He  (OfFaly)  not  only  fortified 
and  manned  divers  ships  at  sea  for  keeping  and  letting,  destroy- 
ing and  taking  the  King's  Deputy,  army  and  subjects  that 
they  should  not  land  within  the  said  land  ;  but  also,  at  the 
arrival  of  the  said  army,  the  said  Thomas,  accompanied  with 
his    uncles,   servants    and   adherents,  falsely    and   traitorously 

104 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

The  Lord  Deputy  "kept  the  sea"  for  a 
week,  "abiding  wind  that  would  have  served  to 
Waterford,  which  was  contrary  to  us."  On 
the  twenty-fourth,  being  informed  that  the  enemy 
were  at  a  safe  distance  and  that  Ossory  was  on  his 
way  to  Dublin,  he  at  last  ventured  to  rejoin 
Brereton  in  the  capital.  Three  days  later  a 
report  reached  him  that  the  Irish  intended  to 
lay  siege  to  Drogheda.  Skeffington,  with  the 
whole  army,  set  out  at  once  to  relieve  the 
threatened  town.  On  arriving  at  his  destination 
he  found  that  the  report  was  groundless ;  and, 
after  waiting  a  week,  during  which  the  enemy 
continued  to  lay  waste  the  country  further 
south,  he  resolved  to  retrace  his  steps.  On  this 
occasion  the  Lord  Deputy,  if  he  had  accom- 
plished nothing,  had  at  least  escaped  without 
serious  injury  ;  but  the  result  of  his  next  ex- 
pedition was  less  fortunate.  Towards  the  end 
of  November  he  attempted  to  engage  the  Irish 
near  Trim  ;  the  latter  fled  at  his  approach  ;  and 
Skeffington,  not  daring  to  pursue  them,  again 
marched  back  to  Dublin.  On  their  return 
march  they  were  overtaken  by  rain,  which  fell 
so  heavily  that  "  the  footmen  waded  by  the  way 
to  the  middles  in  waters."  The  cavalry  galloped 
off  as    soon   as    the    storm    broke,   leaving   the 

assembled  themselves  together  upon  the  sea-coast,  for  keeping 
and  resisting  the  King's  Deputy  and  army  ;  and  the  same  time 
they  shamefully  murdered  divers  of  the  said  army  coming  to 
land."— 28  Henry  VIII,  c.  i. 

105 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

infantry  to  shift  for  themselves.  The  latter 
followed  in  disorder,  hotly  pursued  by  the 
Irish,  who  attacked  them  near  Kilmainham/ 
Skeffington,  whose  wetting  had  given  him  a 
severe  cold,  took  to  his  bed  on  reaching  Dublin, 
and  remained  there  until  the  middle  of  February.^ 
The  rain  continued,  and  the  roads,  which  even 
in  summer  were  none  of  the  best,  speedily  be- 
came impassable.  The  troops,  ill-armed,  ill-paid, 
and  utterly  demoralized  by  the  imbecility  of 
their  general,  remained  cooped  up  in  Dublin,  to 
the  no  small  annoyance  of  the  citizens,  whom 
they  robbed  and  spoiled  at  pleasure,  "smally  re- 
garding the  Deputy,  and  much  less  any  of  the 
Council."  ^  The  outrages  of  the  rebels  had 
been  more  tolerable. 

Not,  indeed,  that  the  rebels  were  by  any 
means  as  inactive  as  the  Deputy.  The  Irish 
kerne,  who  were  lightly  armed  and  unen- 
cumbered with  artillery,  cared  little  for  the 
condition  of  the  roads,  and  Offaly  was  less 
careful    of  his    health    than    Skeffington.        In 

^  Skeffington  to  Walsingham,  March  13,  1535. 

^  "My  Lord  Deputy  now  by  the  space  of  twelve  or  thirteen 
weeks  hath  continued  in  sickness,  never  once  going  out  of  his 
house,  nor  as  yet  is  not  recovered  ;  which  hath  been  and  is  a 
great  hindrance  to  the  setting  forthward  of  the  King's  wars. 
And  in  the  meantime  the  rebel  hath  burnt  much  of  the  country; 
trusting,  if  he  may  be  suffered,  to  waste  and  desolate  the 
Englishry,  whereby  he  thinketh  to  enforce  this  army  to 
depart." — Alen  to  Cromwell,  February  16,  1535. 

^  Ib'td.^  December  26,  1534. 

106 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

November,  a  few  days  after  the  Deputy's  return 
to  the  capital,  he  attacked  the  wealthy  and 
populous  town  of  Trim,  "and  not  only  robbed 
the  same,  but  burnt  a  great  part  thereof,  and 
took  all  the  cattle  of  the  country  thereabouts." 
From  Trim  he  proceeded  to  Dunboyne,  only 
six  miles  from  Dublin,  and  "in  default  of  relief 
he  utterly  destroyed  and  burnt  the  whole 
town."  His  entire  following  at  this  time 
consisted  of  from  sixty  to  eighty  horsemen 
and  some  three  hundred  kerne  and  gallow- 
glasses,  and  Alen  believed  that  he  might 
have  been  crushed  with  little  difficulty ;  but 
Skeffington  "desired  his  own  glory,"  and  would 
not  sanction  any  enterprise  of  which  he  could 
not  take  the  command  in  person.  Had  he  done 
so  it  might  have  been  no  easy  matter  to  induce 
an  army,  "so  nusseled  in  robbery,"  to  take  the 
field  against  an  enemy  from  whom  there  was 
little  hope  of  plunder. 

And  so  the  winter  passed.  For  three  months 
the  rebels  continued  to  rob  and  burn  the  Pale, 
"trusting,  if  they  may  be  suffisred,  to  waste  and 
desolate  the  Englishry,  to  enforce  this  army 
to  depart";  and  what  the  rebels  spared,  the 
mutinous  banditti  at  Dublin  destroyed.  The 
officers,  Sir  Rice  Manscll  excepted,  made  little 
or  no  attempt  to  enforce  discipline,  and  Alen 
pressed  in  vain  for  the  appointment  of  a  marshal 
"to  do  straight  correction."  At  once  jealous 
and    incompetent,    Skeffington    would    neither 

107 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

exercise   his   authority  himself   nor    consent  to 
delegate  it  to  another.^ 

But  Skeffington,  like  many  earlier  and  many 
later  deputies,  was  saved  from  the  consequences 
of  his  own  errors  by  the  dissensions  which, 
about  this  time,  broke  out  among  the  Irish 
confederates.  Internal  disunion,  that  fatal  source 
of  nearly  all  the  calamities  of  Ireland,  had 
sapped  the  strength  and  paralysed  the  energies 
of  the  Geraldine  league.  Offaly  was  proclaimed 
traitor  in  October;^  in  November  the  ecclesi- 
astics who  had  governed  the  see  of  Dublin  since 
the  murder  of  the  archbishop  pronounced  a 
solemn  curse  upon  him  and  upon  all  who 
should  presume  to  assist  him.^  These  two-fold 
fulminations  of  the  temporal  and  spiritual  au- 
thorities may  have  had  some  effect  upon  the 
more  faint-hearted  of  his  supporters,  but  there 
were  other  and  more  potent  influences  at  work. 
The  gentlemen  of  the  Pale  had  been  averse  from 
the  beginning  to  the  rebellion,  in  which  they 
had  only  taken  part  under  compulsion,  and 
Skeffington  was  no  sooner  landed  than  they 
hastened  to  make  their  peace  with  the  govern- 
ment.*   The  defection  of  the  Ulstermen  followed. 


^  Alen  to  Cromwell,  December  26  and  February  16. 

^  Skeffington  to  Henry,  November  ii,  1534. 

^  Copie  of  the  Curse  given  Thomas  Fitzgerald  and  others. 

^  Skeffington  to  Henry,  November  11.  "The  wise  gentle- 
men of  the  Pale  did  not  greatly  incline  to  his  purpose." — 
Campion,  p.  179. 

108 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

O'Neil,  it  is  true,  was  the  steady  friend,  as  well 
as  the  near  kinsman,  of  the  Geraldines  ;  and 
O'Neil  was  by  far  the  strongest  of  the  northern 
chieftains ;  but  O'Donel,  Maguire,  and  nearly 
all  the  lesser  chiefs  of  Ulster,  who  had  more 
to  fear  from  the  ambition  of  their  powerful 
neighbour  than  from  the  hostility  of  the  feeble 
government  at  Dublin,  declared  for  the  crown. ^ 
0*Neil  invaded  the  Pale  in  November,  when  he 
burnt  Lord  Slane's  lands  and  a  great  part  of 
Uriel  ;^  but  afterwards,  being  hard  pressed  by 
O'Donel,  gave  no  further  assistance  to  his  kins- 
man. In  the  following  July  he  also  was  driven 
to  make  peace  with  the  Deputy,  though  he 
stipulated  successfully  for  the  payment  of  his 
usual  black-rent.^ 

Ossory,  meanwhile,  was  exerting  himself  only 
too  successfully  to  dissolve  the  coalition  in  the 
south.  MacMurrough  was  induced  or  com- 
pelled to  change  sides  in  November,  and  to  give 
hostages  for  his  future  loyalty  :  O 'Moore, 
attacked  by  a  portion  of  his  clan,  under  the 
leadership  of  two  of  his  own  brothers,  "  was 
fain    to    be    continually    resident    in    his    own 

^  "It  may  please  you  to  be  advertised  that  since  my  hither 
coming  all  the  chief  Irish  lords  of  the  north,  only  excepted 
O'Neil,  have  written  their  letters  unto  me,  firmly  promising 
their  service  to  the  King's  Grace." — Skeffington  to  Walsingham, 
March  13,  1535. 

^  Alen  to  Cromw^ell,  December  26,  1534. 

^  Indenture  betvi^een  Skeffington  and  O'Neil,  July  26, 1535^ 

109 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

country  for  the  defence  of  the  sanie."^  O'Conor 
steadily  refused  to  desert  his  brother-in-law  ;  but 
he  too  was  weakened  by  the  opposition  of  his 
brother,  Cahir.^  From  Leinster  the  Earl  turned 
his  attention  to  Munster,  the  province  from 
which  the  most  serious  danger  was  apprehended. 
In  June,  1534,  a  Spanish  priest  had  visited  the 
twelfth  Earl  of  Desmond  at  Dingle,  and  had 
attempted  to  resume  the  negotiations  which  had 
been  broken  off  five  years  before.^  The  Earl, 
who  was  at  this  time  on  his  death-bed,  appears 
to  have  given  him  very  little  encouragement  ; 
but  O'Brien  of  Thomond,  who  had  married  a 
sister  of  the  eleventh  earl,  and  had  been  deeply 
implicated  in  the  negotiations  of  his  brother-in- 
law,  entered  eagerly  into  the  schemes  of  the 
imperial  agent  ;  and  it  was  probably  by  O'Brien's 
advice  that  Offaly  not  long  afterwards  dispatched 
one  Dominic  Power  to  seek  assistance  from  the 
Emperor,  and  MacGravyll,  Archdeacon  of  Kells, 
on  a  similar  errand  to  the  Pope.^  Desmond  died 
only  a  few  weeks  later,  and  his  brother  Sir  John, 
the  youngest  and  only  surviving  son  of  the  great 
Earl  who  had   been   executed   at   Drogheda  in 

^  Ossory  to  Cowley,  June,    1535. 

2  Aylmer  and  Alen  to  Cromwell,  August  21,  1535. 

^  Wise  to  Cromwell,  July  12,  1534.  Rawson  to  Henry, 
August  7,  1534.      28  Henry  VIII,  c.  i. 

^28  Henry  VIII,  c.  i.  Alen  to  Cromwell,  December 
26,  1534.  Ossory  to  Cowley,  June,  1535.  Deposition  of 
Robert  Reilly,  August  5,  1536.  Carew  MSS.  The  Pilgrinty 
pp.  175-176. 

I  10 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

1467,  "  attained  into  his  possession  the  whole 
earldom  of  Desmond  and  all  the  power  of  the 
Englishry  of  Munster,  and  was  combined  with 
O'Brien  and  others  the  King's  ancient  enemies, 
intending  by  their  aid  forcibly  to  retain  the  same 
against  the  King's  will  and  pleasure."  ^ 

It  was  to  these  chiefs  and  to  the  Burkes 
and  the  O'Kellys  of  Connaught  that  Offaly,  or 
Kildare  as  we  must  now  call  him,  for  the  old 
Earl  had  died  in  December  "  for  thought  and 
pain,"  ^  looked  to  enable  him  to  protract  hostili- 
ties until  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  which 
was  confidently  expected  in  the  summer.  Both 
O'Brien  and  Desmond,  however,  were  at  this 
time  considerably  weakened  by  dissensions  in 
their  own  families.  Connor  O'Brien  had  been 
twice  married,  and  there  was  little  prospect  of  a 
peaceful  succession.  Donough,  the  only  son  of 
his  first  wife,  a  sister  of  Mac  William  of  Clanri- 
carde,  was  the  heir  according  to  English 
notions.  But  Donough,  who  had  married  a 
daughter  of  the  hated  Ossory,  was  unpopular 
with  the  clan,  and  had  no  hope  of  making  good 
his  claims  except  by  the  assistance  of  his  wife's 
family  and  the  support  of  the  English  govern- 
ment.^    O'Brien  was  himself  anxious  to  secure 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Cromwell,  June  i,  1536. 

^  Campion,  p.  179. 

^  "There  met  with  my  lord  James  [Butler]  his  brother- 
in-law,  which  is  O'Brien's  son,  and  his  saying  is  this  to  my 
lord  James  :    *  I  have  married  your  sister  :  and,   for   because 

I  I  I 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

the  succession  for  his  younger  son,  Donnell, 
whose  mother  was  a  daughter  of  the  tenth  Earl 
of  Desmond.  Meanwhile  Connor's  brother, 
Murrough,  who  had  some  claim  to  succeed  by 
the  Irish  law  of  tanistry,  was  secretly  playing 
for  his  own  hand.  For  the  present,  however, 
he  took  part  ostentatiously  with  his  brother, 
thinking  probably  that  of  his  two  nephews, 
Donnell,  at  this  time  a  mere  child,  was  likely 
to  prove  the  less  formidable  competitor.^ 

While  O'Brien  was  thus  embarrassed  by  the 
hostility  of  his  first-born,  Desmond's  title  to  the 
earldom  was  disputed  by  the  illegitimate  son  of 
his  nephew,  James  FitzMaurice.  Maurice,  the 
only  son  of  the  twelfth  earl,  had  married  Joan 
FitzGibbon,  a  daughter  of  the  White  Knight  ; 
but  the  parties  were  within  the  prohibited 
degrees  of  consanguinity,  and  the  validity  of 
the  marriage  was  very  doubtful.  Maurice  died 
in  1530,  and,  during  the  brief  remainder  of  his 
life,  the  policy  of  the  old  Earl  was  directed 
towards  securing  the  succession  for  his  grandson. 
The  boy — he  appears  to  have  been  little  more — 
was  sent  to  England  in  1532,  and  spent  the  next 

that  I  have  married  your  sister,  I  have  forsaken  my  father, 
mine  uncle,  and  all  my  friends,  and  my  country,  to  come  to 
you  to  help  to  do  the  King  service.  I  have  been  sore  wounded, 
and  have  no  reward,  nor  nothing  to  live  upon.* " — Stephen 
Parry  to  Cromwell,  October  6,  1535. 

^  Ossory  to    Skeffington,    January    17,    1535.     Ossory  to 
Cowley,  June,  1535.     Council  to  Cromwell,  August  9,  1536. 

I  12 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

two  years  at  the  court  of  Windsor,  for  which 
reason  he  was  contemptuously  styled  by  his 
countrymen  "  the  court  page."  On  the  death 
of  his  grandfather  he  returned  to  Ireland,  married 
a  daughter  of  Cormack  Oge  MacCarthy,  and  put 
forth  a  claim  to  the  earldom  of  Desmond  in 
opposition  to  his  grand-uncle,  John  FitzThomas.^ 
Ossory  was  not  slow  to  avail  himself  of  these 
dissensions.  In  January,  1535,  when  a  revolt  1535 
in  the  south  seemed  imminent,  he  hastened  to 
Munster,  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  James 
FitzMaurice,  entered  into  negotiations  with  the 
various  chiefs  of  the  MacCarthys  and  Geraldines, 
and,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  sowed  such  strife 
among  them  as  they  do  continue  in  the  same 
full  of  war  and  debate,  the  one  destroying  the 
other."  ^  At  the  same  time  Donough  O'Brien, 
who  had  a  small  but  zealous  following  in 
Thomond,  was  assisted  in  an  attack  upon  his 
father  ;  while  Mac  William  of  Clanricarde,  who 
was  Donough's  uncle,  and  perhaps  resented 
O'Brien's  partiality  for  his  younger  children, 
was  induced  not  only  to  desert  his  allies,  but  to 
make  war  "  upon  the  backside  of  O'Kelly,"  just 
as  that  chieftain  was  preparing  to  join  forces 
with  the  Earl  near  Athlone.^ 

^  Thomas  Earl  of  Desmond  to  Henry,  May  5,  1532. 
Audley  to  Henry,  April  9,  1535.  Fokes  to  Cromwell, 
March  22,  1536.  Walter  Cowley  to  Robert  Cowley,  April 
29,  1536.      Unpublished  Geraldine  Documents^  II,  109. 

^  Ossory  to  Cowley,  June,  1535. 

^  Ossory  to  Skeffington,  January  17,  1535. 

113  I 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

Thus    before     the    end    of    February,    when 
Skeffington   was   at  length    ready   to    take    the 
field,    the    coalition    was    completely   shattered, 
and  Kildare  found  himself  deserted  by  all  save 
his  own  personal  followers,   and   a  few   chiefs, 
whom  the  hostility  of  their  kinsmen  or  neigh- 
bours disabled  from  rendering  effective  assistance. 
Skeffington,  moreover,  had  recovered  his  health 
and    was    at    last    beginning    to    exert   himself. 
During  the  winter  the  Englishry  had  clamoured 
furiously  for   his  dismissal,  and   Henry  had   so 
far  yielded  to  the  popular  wishes  as  to  appoint 
Lord   Leonard   Gray  to  the  command    of   the 
army,  with  powers  which  rendered  him  virtually 
independent  of   the   Lord   Deputy.      But   Gray 
was  not  expected  in  Ireland  until  the  summer  ; 
and  Skeffington,  having  shaken  off  his  lethargy, 
was  anxious    to    distinguish    himself   by    some 
notable  exploit  before  the  arrival   of  the  latter. 
On    March    14th    the    army,    commanded    by 
the   Lord    Deputy  in  person,  laid   siege   to   the 
great   Geraldine   fortress   of   Maynooth.       The 
garrison  consisted  of  a  hundred  able-bodied  men, 
of  whom   sixty  were  gunners,   and    the   castle 
itself  was,  if  we  may  believe  the  besiegers,  "so 
strongly  fortified  as  the  like  hath  not  been  seen 
in  Ireland  since  any  your  most  noble  progenitors 
had  first  dominion  in  the  land."     Kildare,  who 
was  at  this  time  endeavouring  to  compose  the 
feuds  among    his    confederates    in    Connaught, 
evidently  believed  it  to  be  impregnable,  and  was 

114 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

in  no  hurry  to  relieve  it.  He  had  neglected  to 
make  allowance  for  the  recent  improvements  in 
artillery.  On  the  sixteenth  a  bombardment  was 
opened  on  the  north-west  side  of  the  castle. 
The  attack  in  this  quarter  proving  unsuccessful, 
the  batteries  were  transferred  two  days  later  to 
the  north-east  side,  and  on  the  twenty-second 
a  breach  was  made.  On  the  twenty-third, 
"being  Tuesday  next  before  Easter  Day,  a 
galliard  assault  was  given  and  the  base  court 
entered."  After  more  than  sixty  of  the 
ward  had  been  killed  the  castle  yielded. 
The  survivors,  thirty-seven  in  number,  were 
taken  prisoners,  "and  their  lives  preserved  by 
appointment,  until  they  should  be  presented 
to  me,  your  deputy,  and  then  to  be  ordered  as 
I  and  your  Council  thought  fit.  We  thought 
it  expedient  to  put  them  to  execution  as  an  ex- 
ample to  others."  Among  the  persons  executed 
were  the  Dean  of  Kildare,  Christopher  Paris, 
captain  of  the  garrison,  and  Nicholas  Wafer, 
one  of  the  murderers  of  the  Archbishop.^ 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry,  March  26,  1535. 
With  regard  to  the  capture  of  Maynooth,  Stanihurst,  whose 
love  of  the  romantic  too  often  got  the  better  of  his  judgment, 
tells  a  sensational  story,  which  is  sufficiently  refuted  by  the 
silence  of  the  Lord  Deputy.  According  to  this  veracious 
chronicler  the  castle  was  betrayed  by  the  constable,  Christopher 
Paris,  who  stipulated  that  he  should  receive  a  sum  of  money 
as  the  reward  of  his  treachery.  Skeffington  paid  the  stipulated 
sum,  and  then  caused  Paris  to  be  beheaded  as  a  traitor  (pp. 
299-301).  The  story,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  is  taken  almost 
without  alteration  from  Herodotus. 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

Kildare,    meanwhile,    had    collected    a    fresh 
army  in  Connaught,  and  was  hastening  to  the 
relief  of  Maynooth  when  the  news  of  the  dis- 
aster reached  him.      It  was  the  first  time  that 
an  Irish  castle  had  been  taken  by  assault,  and 
the  moral  effect  was  instantaneous.     The  chiefs, 
who  had  hitherto  believed  that  their  strongholds 
could  only  be  reduced  by  the  slow  and  costly 
process  of  starvation,  unanimously  decided  that 
offensive  operations  were   for  the    present  im- 
practicable, and  retired  to  make  arrangements  for 
the  defence  of  their  own  territories.     The  Earl 
himself,  accompanied  by  a  bodyguard  of  sixteen 
trusty    followers,    took    refuge    with     O'Brien 
in    Thomond,    intending    to    make    his    escape 
to    Spain.      O'Brien,    however,    still    cherished 
the  hope  of  foreign  succour,  and  dissuaded  his 
friend  from  a  step  which  would  have  involved 
the   complete  disintegration  of  his  party.     Sir 
James      Delahide     and      Father    Walsh     were 
dispatched  to  make    a   fresh  application  to  the 
emperor.     Kildare  himself  remained  in  Ireland 
and  made  a  final  effort  to  rally  his  disunited  and 
dispirited  allies.' 

Skeffington  made  no  attempt   to    follow    up 

^  Skeffington  to  Henry,  June  17,  1535.  Ossoryto  Cowley, 
June,  1535.  O'Brien  to  Henry,  October  14,  1535. 
Deposition  of  Robert  Reilly,  August  5,  1536. — Carew  MSS, 
Some  further  particulars  as  to  Delahide  and  Walsh  will  be 
found  in  the  "Examination  of  John  Dyrram,"  enclosed  in 
Gray's  letter  to  Cromwell,  May  21,  1536. 

116 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

his  victory.  He  had  displayed  unwonted  energy 
at  Maynooth,  but  he  speedily  sank  again  into 
his  former  lethargy ;  the  troops  returned  to 
their  old  habits,  pillaging  and  oppressing  the 
Englishry  ;  and  in  July  the  Irish,  encouraged 
by  the  misconduct  of  the  soldiery,  again  ven- 
tured to  attack  the  Pale.  Sir  John  Alen  and 
Chief  Justice  Aylmer  had  gone  to  England  in 
May,  believing  the  rebellion  to  be  at  an  end  ; 
they  returned  on  August  ist  to  find  that 
three-fourths  of  Kildare  and  a  great  part  of 
Meath  had  been  laid  vvraste  since  their  departure, 
and  that  the  O'Tooles  had  razed  Powerscourt, 
"one  of  the  fairest  garrisons  in  this  country,  the 
building  vv^hereof  cost  the  old  Earl  of  Kildare 
and  the  inhabitants  of  the  county  of  Dublin 
four  or  five  thousand  marks"  ;  while  O'Conor,  a 
few  days  later,  recovered  the  important  castle  of 
Rathangan,  which  had  been  captured  earlier  in 
the  summer,  from  Sir  William  Brereton.^  But 
the  Spanish  fleet  still  lingered,  and  without 
Spanish  aid  the  Irish  cause  was  hopeless.  Even 
if  the  command  had  remained  in  the  incapable 
hands  of  Skeffington,  it  is  clear  that  the  rebel- 
lion could  not  have  been  indefinitely  prolonged. 
But  Skeffington,  although  he  was  still  suffered 
to  retain  the  name  of  deputy,  was  virtually 
superseded  in  the  last  week  of  July,  when  Lord 
Leonard  Gray  landed  with  the  rank  of  marshal 

^  Aylmer  and  Alen  to  Cromwell,  August  21,  1535. 
117 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

of  the  army.  Lord  Leonard,  one  of  the  ablest 
of  the  many  eminent  men  who  were  employed 
in  Ireland  during  the  troubles  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  promptly  restored  the  discipline  of  the 
troops  by  measures  which  exposed  him  to  much 
unmerited  obloquy,^  and,  within  three  weeks  of 
his  arrival,  inflicted  a  severe  defeat  on  the  in- 
surgents, the  Earl  himself  narrowly  escaping 
capture  by  the  connivance  of  O'Moore,  who 
had  recently  been  compelled  to  change  sides, 
but  whose  enthusiasm  for  his  new  allies  was 
distinctly  lukewarm.^ 

After  this  reverse  Kildare  made  no  further 
effort  to  renew  the  struggle.  Success  was  no 
longer  possible  ;  but  he  might  still  hope,  by  a 
timely  submission,  to  preserve  his  life  and  his 
estates.  O'Conor,  hitherto  the  most  steadfast 
of  his  allies,  admitted  that  he  could  hold  out 
no  longer,  and  advised  his  brother-in-law  to 
negotiate ;  and  it  was  from  O'Conor's  castle 
of    Dengen    that    Kildare    wrote    to    Gray    on 

^  Antony  Colly  to  Cromwell,  February  13,  1536. — Carew 
MSS.  Thomas  Dacre  to  Cromwell,  January  5,  1536. 
(MS.  R.O.) 

^  "  O'Moore  would  never  kill  one  of  Thomas'  men,  but  of 
O'Conor's ;  yet  many  were  killed,  and  most  of  them  by 
Mr,  Treasurer,  and  such  of  his  own  company  as  stood  with 
him  ;  and  by  Thomas  Eustace  divers  prisoners  were  taken, 
and  let  go  again  by  the  Gerald ines  and  by  the  Dempsies, 
being  in  O'Moore's  company,  among  whom  the  traitor  him- 
self was  taken,  as  the  common  report  is,  and  let  go  again." — 
Aylmer  and  Alen  to  Cromwell,  August  21,  i535' 

118 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

August  1 8th,  offering  to  give  himself  up  if 
by  so  doing  he  might  have  pardon  for  his  life 
and  lands.  If  his  terms  were  accepted  he 
would  do  his  best  to  deserve  forgiveness;  if  they 
were  refused  he  must,  he  said,  shift  for  himself 
as  best  he  could/  Gray,  who  was  anxious  to 
put  an  end  to  the  war  without  delay,  as  well  as 
aware  that,  if  the  Irish  leader  were  to  make  his 
escape  to  the  continent,  he  might  prove  ex- 
tremely dangerous,  returned  an  encouraging  if 
somewhat  guarded  answer.  A  few  days  later  the 
Earl  gave  himself  up  to  Gray  and  Butler,  receiv- 
ing in  return  the  assurances  of  his  captors  that 
they  would  be  answerable  for  his  personal  safety. 
Skeffington,  who  was  perhaps  annoyed  at  not 
having  been  consulted,  and  may  have  desired  to 
embarrass  his  subordinate,  at  once  wrote  to  tell 
Henry  that  "  the  traitor "  had  surrendered 
"without  condition  either  of  pardon,  life,  lands, 
or  goods,  but  only  submitting  himself  to  your 
Grace  ";^  but  the  truth  could  not  long  be  con- 
cealed. On  the  twenty-fourth  the  Council 
addressed  an  elaborate  memorandum  to  the 
King,  relating  the  circumstances  of  the  capture, 
and  entreating  him  "  according  to  the  comfort 
of  our  words  spoken  to  the  said  Thomas  to  allure 
him  to  yield,  to  be  merciful  to  the  said  Thomas, 
especially  concerning  his  life."^     His  Majesty, 

^  Kildare  to  Gray,  August  i8,  1535. 
'  Skeffington  to  Henry,  August  24. 
^  Council  to  Henry,  August  27. 

119 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

who  was  not  in  a  merciful  mood,  sent  a  sort  of 
growling  acknowledgment,  in  which  vexation 
was  at  least  as  plainly  expressed  as  gratitude. 
"  If  he  had  been  apprehended  after  such  sort  as 
was  convenable  to  his  dcservings,  the  same  had 
been  much  more  thankful  and  better  to  our  con- 
tentation  :  nevertheless  for  your  industry,  pains 
and  diligence  used  therein  we  give  you  our 
hearty  thanks."^  It  was  evident  that  he  was 
unwilling  to  spare  his  prisoner  and  ashamed  to 
execute  him. 

The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who,  as  a  former 
Deputy,  was  generally  consulted  on  Irish 
questions,  was  appealed  to  and  recommended 
Henry  to  temporize.  There  were  three  possible 
ways  of  dealing  with  the  traitor,  "  either  execu- 
tion shortly  or  pardon  of  life,  or  committing  to 
sure  prison  for  a  time."  The  first,  "  considering 
the  fashion  of  his  submission,"  the  Duke  pro- 
nounced to  be  unadvisable  :  Gray  and  Butler 
would  lose  all  credit  in  Ireland,  "  which  were 
pity,  for  they  might  do  good  service  ":  the  native 
chiefs  would  conclude  that  no  reliance  was  to 
be  placed  on  English  promises,  and  the  war 
would  become  one  of  extermination.  The  second 
was  no  less  inadmissible.  "  It  were  the  worst 
example  that  ever  was,  and  especially  for  that 
ungracious  people  of  Ireland."  As  a  prisoner 
the  Earl  would  be   a   valuable  hostage  for  the 

^  Henry  to  Skeffington,  October,  1535. 
120 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

loyalty  of  his  late  allies,  and  might  be  executed 
at  last  when  there  was  no  further  "  commodity  '* 
to  be  gained  by  sparing  him.^ 

This  advice  was  followed.  After  an  imprison- 
ment of  sixteen  months,  during  which  he  was 
treated  with  a  harshness  unusual  even  in  that 
age,  "  having  neither  hosen,  doublet,  nor  shoes, 
nor  shirt  but  one,  nor  any  other  garment  but  a 
single  frieze  gown,"  "  wolward  and  barefoot 
and  barelegged  divers  times,  when  it  was  not 
very  warm,"  half-starved,  half-naked,  dependent 
even  for  the  miserable  rags  that  covered  him 
upon  the  "  gentleness"  of  his  fellow-prisoners,^ 
Thomas,  tenth  Earl  of  Kildare,  was  executed 
at  Tyburn  on  February  3rd,  1537.  With 
him  perished  his  five  uncles,  the  half-brothers 
of  his  father,  and  the  near  kinsmen  of  the  King. 
Three  of  these  gentlemen,  who  had  taken  no 
part  whatever  in  their  nephew's  rebellion,  while 
two  of  them  at  least  had  been  active  on  the  side 
of  the  crown,  were  treacherously  arrested  at  a 
banquet  to  which  they  had  been  invited  by  the 
Lord  Deputy  :  the  other  two  brothers,  who 
were  accused,  although  on  rather  doubtful  evi- 
dence, of  having  been  concerned  in  the  rising, 
being  captured  not  long  afterwards.^ 

^  Norfolk  to  Cromwell,  September  9,  1535.  See  also 
Audley  to  Henry,  September  13,  1535. — State  Papers^  I,  446. 

^  Kildare  to  John  Rothe,  enclosing  letter  to  O'Brien,  1536. 

^  Stanihurst,  p.  303.  Council  to  Cromwell,  February  14, 
1536.    "Richard  FitzGerald  is  come  into  the  King's  service, 

121 


THE    GERALDINE    REVOLT 

But  even  this  wholesale  butchery  was  insuffi- 
cient to  satisfy  the  vengeance  of  the  King. 
The  children  of  the  late  Earl  of  Kildare  by  his 
second  wife  were  still  living,  and  Henry, 
yielding  to  the  advice  of  the  vice-treasurer, 
Brabazon,^  which  harmonized  only  too  well  with 
his  own  savage  temper,  had  resolved  to  extirpate 
the  entire  race.  Gerald,  the  eldest  of  these 
children,  who  had  just  completed  his  twelfth 
year,  was  residing  at  the  time  of  his  brother's 
death  with  his  half-sister.  Lady  Mary  O'Conor  ; 
and  his  name  became  in  a  little  while  the  rallying 
cry  of  all  in  Ireland  who,  for  whatever  reason, 
were  dissatisfied  with  the  policy  of  the  court.  To 
the  apprehension  and  destruction  of  this  poor 
child  the  efforts  of  the  Irish  government  were 
steadily  directed  during  the  next  three  years. 
But  the  history  of  those  efforts,  and  of  the  means 
by  which  they  were  frustrated,  must  be  reserved 
for  a  later  chapter. 

and  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  he  will  continue  truly,  as  hitherto 
it  hath  proved.  Sir  James  FitzGerald  is  in  like  case,  come 
into  the  King's  service  and  sheweth  himself  like  a  true  man.'* 
— Skeffington  to  Henry,  March  13,  1535.  It  is  significant 
that,  although  all  five  brothers  were  executed,  tvi^o  only  were 
attainted  by  the  Irish  Parliament. — 28  Henry  VIII,  c.  i. 

'  "  My  poor  advice  shall  be  to  discharge  this  land  of  all  the 
sect  of  them  :  then  shall  this  country  be  in  quietness,  or  else 
not." — Brabazon  to  Cromwell,  September  10,  1535' 


122 


CHAPTER     III 

THE    IRISH     CHURCH 

The  downfall  of  the  great  Geraldine  house, 
and  the  increased  prestige  which  the  crown 
derived  from  victory  over  an  adversary  so  for- 
midable, afforded  Henry  an  opportunity  of 
extorting  from  the  packed  and  terrified  parlia- 
ment of  the  Pale  an  assent  to  alterations  in  the 
ecclesiastical  constitution  of  Ireland,  substantially 
identical  with  those  which  had  been  carried  out 
in  England  a  few  years  earlier. 

The  ecclesiastical  revolution  effected  at  this 
juncture  by  the  English  rulers  of  Ireland  was 
the  result  of  a  great  religious  movement,  which 
had  its  origin  in  Germany  and  extended  over 
the  whole  of  northern  Europe  :  nor  can  the 
course  which  that  movement  ran  in  Ireland  be 
understood  without  some  reference  to  what  took 
place  elsewhere. 

On  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  in  the 
northern  part  of  Great  Britain,  the  reformed 
doctrines  were  first  preached  among  the  middle 
and  lower  orders  of  the  people,  and  were  propa- 
gated almost  always  without  the  assistance  of  the 
secular  power,  and,  in  many  cases,  in  spite  of  its 
strenuous  opposition.      Princes  and  noblemen,  it 

123 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

is  true,  gave  their  support  to  the  new  creed, 
sometimes  from  conscientious  and  sometimes 
from  ambitious  motives  ;  but  it  v^as  not  to  them 
that  it  owed  its  origin.  The  movement  was 
almost  everywhere  spontaneous. 

In  England  the  case  was  somewhat  different. 
There  the  immediate  cause  of  the  separation  of 
the  national  church  from  the  communion  of 
Catholic  Christendom  is  undoubtedly  to  be 
found  in  the  personal  character  of  Henry  VIII ; 
but  the  King's  policy  would  scarcely  have  been 
successful  had  he  not  been  supported  by  a  strong 
current  of  popular  feeling.  In  the  English  re- 
formation two  streams  of  thought,  the  one 
religious  and  intellectual,  the  other  in  the  main 
political,  combined.  More  than  a  century  be- 
fore the  accession  of  Henry  VIII  doctrines,  not 
unlike  those  of  the  German  reformers,  had  been 
preached  by  Wyckliff ;  and  Lollardism,  though 
apparently  suppressed,  had  still  many  sympa- 
thizers among  the  people.  Political  opposition 
to  the  Holy  See  was  much  older.  The  claim 
of  the  Roman  Pontiff  to  interfere  with  the 
internal  economy  of  the  national  church  had 
long  appeared  even  to  devout  Catholics  to  be  a 
serious  evil,  and  had  been  expressly  repudiated 
by  numerous  acts  of  parliament.^  Thus  when 
Henry  VIII  resolved  to  renounce  "  the  usurped 

^  English  Statutes.  2$  Edward  III,  c.  5  &  6 ;  38  Edward 
III,  c.  II  ;  13  Richard  II,  c.  1 1  ;  16  Richard  II,  c  5  ;  7 
Henry  IV,  c  8  ;  3  Henry  V,  c.  8. 

124 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

authority  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,"  and  when 
his  son  attempted  more  drastic  measures  of 
ecclesiastical  reform,  they  found  a  large  pro- 
portion of  their  subjects  prepared  to  sympathize 
with  their  innovations.  It  should  be  added  that 
the  Tudor  sovereigns  were  in  a  more  favourable 
situation  for  forcing  their  own  religious  con- 
victions on  their  subjects  than  any  of  their 
predecessors  had  been.  The  Wars  of  the  Roses 
had  greatly  increased  the  power  of  the  King  : 
first,  by  substituting  for  the  old  feudal  nobility, 
who  had  so  often  withstood  the  encroachments 
of  the  crown,  a  new  aristocracy,  who  were  the 
creatures  of  the  crown,  and  disposed  to  concur 
in  all  its  measures  ;  and  secondly,  by  diffusing 
among  the  middle  classes  a  dread  of  anarchy 
which  made  them  readily  submit  to  despotism. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  these  advantages,  the  pro- 
gress of  the  reformed  doctrines  was  at  first 
very  slow  and  by  no  means  sure.  The  nation 
submitted  impatiently  to  the  innovations  of 
Edward,  and  acquiesced  at  least  passively  in 
the  severities  of  Mary.  At  the  accession  of 
Elizabeth  a  majority  of  the  people  inclined, 
though  languidly,  to  the  old  faith. ^  Their 
gradual  conversion  to  Protestantism  must  be 
ascribed  to   the   long   war  with   Spain,   during 

^  "  Scantly  a  third  part  was  found  fully  assured  to  be 
trusted  in  the  matter  of  religion." — Note  on  the  state  of 
the  realm  by  Sir  W.  Cecil.  Froude,  History  of  Englandy 
VII,  II. 

125 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

which  the  cause  of  Protestantism  became  identi- 
fied with  that  of  national  independence. 

In  Ireland  the  new  religion  was  introduced  at 
the  same  time,  and  by  the  same  authority  as  in 
England  ;  but  the  circumstances  of  the  two 
countries  were  widely  different.  None  of  the 
intellectual  movements  which  had  predisposed 
the  English  people  to  accept  the  reformed 
doctrines  had  extended  beyond  St.  George's 
Channel,  where  the  state  of  society  resembled 
that  of  the  twelfth  rather  than  that  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  In  the  quarrel  between  the 
King  of  England  and  the  Roman  Pontiff,  the 
sympathies  of  the  Irish  were  with  the  latter ; 
for,  if  the  Popes  had  hitherto  done  them  little 
good,  the  kings  had  done  them  much  harm. 
The  royal  authority,  which  in  England  was 
popular  and  strong,  was  in  Ireland  unpopular 
and  weak ;  and  the  sense  of  nationality,  which 
induced  Englishmen  to  revolt  against  a  church 
supported  by  Spain,  disposed  Irishmen  to  reject 
a  church  imported  from  England. 

It  is  customary  to  attribute  the  extreme  dis- 
organization of  the  Irish  church,  during  the 
second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  to  the 
series  of  measures  collectively  known  by  the 
rather  misleading  title  of  "the  Reformation," 
and  it  is  unquestionably  true  that  the  Refor- 
mation immensely  aggravated  the  evil.  But 
the  evil  itself  was  much  older,  and  was  political 
rather  than  religious  in  its  origin.    For  centuries 

126 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

the  English  population  of  the  Pale  and  the 
seaport  towns  had  been  engaged  in  incessant 
hostilities  with  the  Irish  of  the  adjoining 
districts.  The  clergy  of  both  races  shared  the 
feelings  of  their  lay  countrymen,  whom  they 
assisted  with  their  prayers,  and  sometimes  with 
less  spiritual  arms.  In  the  memorable  remon- 
strance addressed  by  the  Irish  chieftains  to  John 
XXII  in  1 3 17,  complaint  was  made  that  the 
"bishops  and  religious"  of  the  English  preached 
and  practised  a  doctrine,  which  the  writers 
justly  stigmatized  as  heretical,  "that  it  was  no 
more  sin  to  kill  an  Irishman  than  to  kill  a  dog," 
and  that  when,  as  often  happened,  they  chanced 
to  do  so,  they  would  not  on  that  account  abstain 
from  celebrating  mass  even  for  a  day.^  Roland 
Jorse,  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  and  the  Abbots 
of  Granard  and  Inch,  were  described  as  the 
principal  exponents  of  this  most  unorthodox 
theology.  Fifty  years  later  the  Archbishops  of 
Dublin,  Cashel  and  Tuam,  with  five  other 
bishops,  took  a  leading  part  in  framing  the 
iniquitous  Statutes  of  Kilkenny,  of  which  it 
was  a  main  object  to  make  the  separation  of 
the  races  perpetual.  Among  other  oppressive 
enactments  relative  to  secular  affairs  one  of 
these  laws  provided  that  no  Irishman  should  be 
admitted  to  any  monastery  or  benefice  "situated 
in    the    land    of  peace  among   the    English."  ^ 

^  Joannes  de  Fordun,  Scotichronicoriy  p.  264. 
^  Statute  of  Kilkenny y  p.  47. 

127 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

Happily  it  was  easier  to  pass  such  an  act  than 
to  enforce  it.  English  law,  both  in  civil  and 
religious  matters,  was  confined  to  a  narrow  area, 
and  not  only  were  there  many  dioceses  in  Ire- 
land in  which  the  King's  writ  did  not  run,  but 
even  the  English  dioceses  contained  vast  districts 
wholly  inhabited  by  the  "wild  Irish."  In  these 
districts  it  was  impossible  for  priests  of  English 
race  to  reside  with  safety,  even  if  they  had  been 
willing — which  few,  if  any,  of  them  were — to 
minister  to  a  population  whom  they  despised. 
For  this  reason  dispensations  were  frequently 
granted,  sometimes  by  act  of  parliament,  more 
often  by  royal  licence,  authorizing  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  the  Bishop  of  Meath,  and 
other  prelates  to  present  Irishmen  to  livings  in 
the  wilder  parts  of  their  dioceses.^  But  the  law, 
although  very  imperfectly  enforced,  indicates 
clearly  the  general  policy  of  the  English 
government,  and  that  policy  received  on  more 
than  one  occasion  the  express  sanction  of  the 
Vatican.^ 

The  distinction  between  English  and  Irish 
was  not,  it  should  be  noted,  confined  to  any  one 
class,  but  affected  equally  the  episcopate,  the 
parochial  clergy  and  the  religious  orders.  Each 
of  these  must  be  separately  considered. 

^  Statute  of  Kilkenny^  pp.  46,  48. 

^  See  a  Bull  of  Innocent  VIII  (1484)  printed  in  Hardiman's 
History  of  Galway^  Appendix  II,  and  a  similiar  Bull  of  Leo  X 
(i  5 1 5)  in  Monck  Mason's  History  of  St.  Patrick*  s^  Appendix  XV. 

128 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

In  England  at  this  period  bishoprics  were 
practically  conferred  by  the  crown,  the  subse- 
quent confirmation  by  the  Holy  See  being 
purely  formal.  In  Ireland,  on  the  other  hand, 
where  the  Popes  claimed  a  general  overlordship 
of  the  whole  island,  the  greater  sees  were,  in 
spite  of  numerous  statutes,  habitually  filled  by 
provision.  Fourteen  successive  archbishops  of 
Armagh  appear  to  have  been  appointed  in  this 
manner  between  1306  and  151  3,  and  the  Popes 
also  provided  to  Dublin  in  1484,  151 1,  1521 
and  1528,  and  to  Meath  in  1460,  1483,  1507, 
1 5 12,  1526  and  1530.^  The  persons  so 
appointed,  however,  were,  with  scarcely  an 
exception.  Englishmen  ;  and,  as  most  of  them 
filled  important  political  offices,  they  can  scarcely 
be  supposed  to  have  been  unacceptable  to  the 
King.  The  occupants  of  these  three  sees,  and 
to  them  the  Bishop  of  Kildare  may  be  perhaps 
added,  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  English  party 
in  the  church.  They  had  seats  in  the  House 
of  Lords  and  at  the  Privy  Council,  and  were 
constantly  employed  in  administrative,  diplo- 
matic and  military  business  ;  but  they  neither 
exercised  nor  aspired  to  exercise  any  influence 
over  the  native  population,  and  were  essentially 
rather  politicians  than  churchmen.  All  the 
chancellors  and  many  of  the  deputies  of  the  1400- 
fifteenth   century   were  chosen   from   this  class.     ^5oo 

^  Ware,  I,  71-89,  1 51-155,  343-346.     Cotton's  Fasti^  II, 
17-18;  III,  14-17,  114-115. 

129  K 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

Richard  Talbot,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  was  four 
times  Deputy  between  141 9  and  1447.^  John 
Mey,  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  was  Viceroy  in 
1453.^  William  Sherwood,  Bishop  of  Meath, 
was  Viceroy  in  1475,  when  he  appears  to  have 
commanded  the  royal  forces  in  person.^  Walter 
Fitz-Symonds,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  was 
employed  in  a  similar  capacity  in  1492/ 
William  Rokeby,  who  was  successively  Bishop 
of  Meath  and  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  Hugh 
Inge,  who  succeeded  him  in  both  sees,  took  an 
active  part  in  the  government  of  the  country  ; 
and  the  latter  is  eulogized  by  his  biographer  for 
having  "  put  the  kingdom  in  as  good  a  condition 
as  the  untowardness  of  the  wild  Irish  would 
suffer  him."  ^  In  1494  the  Archbishops  of 
Armagh  and  Dublin,  and  the  Bishops  of  Meath 
and  Kildare,  with  the  sheriffs  of  the  four  shires, 
were  ordered  to  repair  the  fortresses  along  the 
borders  of  the  Pale.^  In  1503,  when  the  Earl 
of  Kildare  invaded  Connaught,  he  was  accom- 
panied by  the  bishops  of  the  Pale,  whose 
presence  in  the  camp  appears  to  have  greatly 
scandalized  the  Earl's  Irish  allies,  O'Neil  in 
particular   protesting   that  a  bishop's  duty  was 

^  Ware,  I,  339.      Gilbert's  History  of  the  Viceroys  of  Ireland^ 

PP-  3ii>  351. 

2  ihid.^  86.     Gilbert,  p.  366. 
^  Ibid.y  1^0.      Gilbert,  p.  400. 
^  /^/^.,  343-     Gilbert,  p.  445. 
'Ibid,,  153,  346. 
®  Statute  of  Kilkenny,  p.  4. 

130 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

"  to  pray,  to  preach,  and  to  make  fair  weather, 
and  not  to  be  privy  to  manslaughter."  ^  A 
State  paper  of  1534  contains  a  list  of  ecclesi- 
astics from  whom  military  service  was  required.^ 

The  appointment  of  English  bishops  was  not, 
however,  confined  to  the  dioceses  of  the  Pale. 
The  sees  of  Cork,  Limerick  and  Waterford, 
walled  towns  occupied  by  an  English  population, 
were  almost  invariably  filled  by  Englishmen  ; 
and  when,  in  1480,  Sixtus  IV,  departing  from 
the  traditional  policy  of  the  Vatican,  ventured 
to  nominate  one  Nicholas  O'Henisa  to  the  last- 
named  diocese,  the  citizens  held  a  meeting  to 
protest  against  the  appointment.^ 

Englishmen  were  also  occasionally  nominated 
by  the  King,  or  by  the  Pope  at  the  King's 
supplication,  to  bishoprics  in  purely  Irish 
districts  ;  but  the  less  important  and  more 
distant  sees,  of  which  the  revenues  were  very 
small,^  were  habitually  filled  by  native  clergymen 

^  Book  of  Howth^  p.  181. 

^  "  All  lords  and  other  persons  of  the  spirituality  shall  send 
companies  to  hostings  and  journeys  in  manner  and  form  fol- 
lowing. The  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  sixteen  archers  or  gunners ; 
the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  twenty  ;  the  Bishop  of  Meath,  six- 
teen ;  the  Lord  of  St.  John's,  twenty  ;  the  Bishop  of  Kildare, 
eight ;  the  Abbot  of  St.  Thomas  Court,  ten  ;  the  Abbot  of 
St.  Mary  by  Dublin,  ten  ;  the  Abbot  of  Mellifont,  ten  ;  the 
Dean  of  Dublin,  four." — Ordinances  for  Ireland,  1534. 

^  Theiner,  Vetera  Monument  a  Hibernorum  et  Scotorum  histo- 
riam  illustrantioy  pp.  487-488. 

*  According  to  the  Papal  reports  the  annual  revenue  of 
Clonmacnois  was  thirty-three  'ducats  ;    that    of  Ardagh,  ten 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

men  who  refused  to  acknowledge  the  authority 
of  the  crown,  and  were  in  consequence  never 
summoned  to  Parliament.  Of  these  bishops  we 
know  very  little.  Many  were  appointed  by 
provision  ;  many  others  were  elected  by  the 
deans  and  chapters.  In  England,  long  before  the 
period  of  which  I  am  now  speaking,  capitular 
elections  had  become  purely  formal  :  in  Ireland, 
owing  to  the  weakness  of  the  crown,  it  is 
probable  that  they  were  still  to  some  extent 
a  reality  ;  at  least  any  pressure  to  which  the 
electoral  bodies  may  have  been  subjected  is  more 
likely  to  have  proceeded  from  some  local  dynast 
than  from  the  central  government.  Sees  were 
frequently  vacant  for  long  periods  :  many  bishops 
never  visited  Ireland,  many  others  were  violently 
expelled  from  their  dioceses.  Archbishop  Mey 
was  only  able  to  obtain  admission  to  Armagh 
by  agreeing  to  pay  a  tribute  of  good  cloth  to 

ducats;  that  of  Ross,  sixty  marks. — Theiner,  pp.  518,  521, 
528.  According  to  Ormond,  the  revenue  of  Enaghdune  was 
only  j^20. — Letter  to  Cromwell,  1532.  Carew  MSS. 
Clogher  was  not  worth  eighty  ducats. — Cotton,  III,  77. 
Dromore  was  not  worth  ^^40  Irish. — Letter  of  Octavian  de 
Palatio  (Ware,  I,  263).  Kildare  was  one  of  the  most  "civil" 
dioceses  in  Ireland,  yet  the  Earl  of  Kildare  writing  to  Wolsey, 
February  8,  1523,  says,  "The  bishopric  doth  not  exceed  the 
yearly  value  of  a  hundred  marks  sterling  (;^66),  the  substance 
whereof  lieth  in  the  Irishry,  and  will  not  be  lightly  had  but  by 
temporal  power."  Even  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  was  com- 
pelled to  petition  for  "a  prebend  of  ^^  100  a  year  in  com- 
mendam^  without  which  I  cannot  live  nor  pay  my  debts." — 
Alen  to  Cromwell,  March  19,  1531. 

132 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

O'Neil.^  Later  primates,  if  they  came  to  Ireland 
at  all,  resided  principally  at  Termonfeckan  in 
the  Pale,^  and  the  practice  was  continued  by 
their  Protestant  successors  until  the  time  of 
James  I.  Thomas  Halsay,  Bishop  of  Leighlin, 
and  Richard  Wilson,  Bishop  of  Meath,  were 
absentees.^  Kildare  was  vacant  from  1513  to 
1526;  Raphoe,  from  15 17  to  1534.^  Dromore 
appears  to  have  been  without  a  resident  bishop 
throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  In  1467  the  Pope  was  informed 
that  the  see  was  so  poor,  owing  to  the 
absenteeism  of  the  last  five  bishops,  that  no 
one  could  be  found  to  accept  it,  and  it  remained 
vacant  for  twenty  years.  George  Brann,  who 
became  bishop  in  1487,  spent  some  years  in 
his  diocese  ;  but  three  subsequent  bishops  of 
Dromore  are  believed  to  have  been  absentees.^ 
The  Irish  annalists  make  frequent  mention  of 
"  bishops  with  opposition,"  or  "  half-bishops," 

^  Gilbert,  p.  336. 

^  Article  by  Dr.  Reeves  on  Octavian  de  Palatio  in  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Historical  and  Archaological  Society  of 
Ireland^  4th  series,  III,  341.  Private  suits  of  Archbishop 
Dowdall,  August,  1558. 

^  Ware,  I,  460.  Halsay  died  in  1521,  not,  as  Ware 
thought,  in  15 19.  Although  he  had  never  visited  Ireland, 
Surrey  recommended  that  he  should  have  the  see  of  Cork 
in  commendam.  —  To  Wolsey,  August  27,  1 520.  For 
Wilson  see  Inge  and  Bermingham  to  Wolsey,  February  23, 
1528. 

*  Brady's  Episcopal  Succession^  pp.  307,  350. 

^  Ware,  I,  263-264.     Cotton,  III,  278-280. 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

bishops,  that  is  to  say,  whose  titles  to  their  sees 
were  disputed  by  rival  claimants.  In  1489  Odo, 
Bishop  of  Ross,  was  expelled  from  his  see  by 
Thady  MacCarrig,  who  appears  to  have  been 
the  nominee  of  some  neighbouring  chieftain.^ 
A  more  curious  case  occurred  about  the  same 
time  in  Kilmore,  where  Thomas  Brady  agreed, 
after  a  contest  of  several  years,  to  divide  the 
profits  of  the  see  with  one  Cormac  ;  and,  what 
is  still  more  strange,  both  bishops  were  present 
at  a  provincial  synod  held  in  1494,  and  were 
described  in  the  official  report  of  its  proceedings 
as  "  Thomas  and  Cormac,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
bishops  of  Kilmore."^  Dermot  O'Reilly,  the 
successor  of  these  two  prelates,  was  compelled 
to  fly  from  his  diocese  "  on  account  of  wars  and 
disorders."^  Clogher  was  vacant  from  151 1  to 
1519  ;  and  Patrick  Cullen,  who  became  bishop 
in  the  latter  year,  was  dispensed  from  residence 
on  account  of  the  poverty  of  the  see,  which  was 
much  wasted  by  the  Irish/ 

Nor  was  the  conduct  even  of  resident  pre- 
lates generally  calculated  to  advance  the  interests 
of  the  church.  Cormac  MacCoghlan,  Bishop 
of  Clonmacnois,  was  killed  in  battle,  his  arch- 
deacon, who  was  his  illegitimate  son,  and  two 
illegitimate  sons  of  the  latter  being  killed  with 

^  Theiner,  p.  503. 

2  Ware,  I,  229.     Cotton's  Fasti,  III,  156. 

3  Ibid. 

*  Cotton's  Fastiy  III,  77. 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

him.^  William  O'Farrel,  "chief  captain  of  his 
nation,"  who  became  Bishop  of  Ardagh  in 
i486,  continued  to  act  as  chieftain  "even  after 
he  had  put  on  the  mitre."  ^  His  habits  were 
probably  very  like  those  of  his  lay  neighbours, 
for,  it  is  stated,  in  a  report  to  Pope  Leo  X, 
composed  in  the  year  after  his  death,  that  the 
population  of  the  diocese  was  much  reduced 
owing  to  the  conduct  of  the  late  bishop,  "who 
endeavoured  to  exercise  temporal  power,  which 
the  people  would  not  suffer."^  In  1537  the 
grand  jury  of  Wexford  complained  that  John 
Purcell,  Bishop  of  Ferns,  had  allied  himself 
with  a  freebooter,  Cahir  MacArt  Kavanagh, 
whom  he  had  assisted  to  burn  the  town  of 
Fethard,^  and  charges  scarcely  less  grave  were 
made  in  the  same  year  againt  Milo  Baron, 
Bishop  of  Ossory,  against  Matthew  Saunders, 
Bishop  of  Leighlin,  and  against  Nicholas  i537 
Comyn,  Bishop  of  Waterford.  Edmund  Butler, 
Archbishop  of  Cashel,  an  illegitimate  son  of  the 
eighth  Earl  of  Ormond,  carried  on  a  war  with 
his  father  in  the  course  of  which  nearly  all  the 
churches    in     Kilkenny     and    Tipperary    were 

^  MacFirbis,  Annah  of  Ireland^  1443- 1468.  Edited  for 
the  Irish  Archzeological  Society  by  John  O'Donovan, 
p.  204. 

-  Ware,  I,  254. 

^  Theiner,  p.  521. 

^  Presentment  of  the  Jury  of  Wexford,  October,  1537. 
Cf.  the  Presentments  of  the  Juries  of  Kilkenny,  Clonmel  and 
Waterford. 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

destroyed/  and  the  citizens  of  Waterford  com- 
plained bitterly  of  the  interruption  to  which 
their  trade  was  exposed  by  the  depredations  of 
"the  Archbishop  his  pirate."^  Maurice  Doran, 
Saunders'  predecessor  at  Leighlin,  was  honour- 
ably distinguished  from  the  majority  of  his 
brethren  by  probity  and  mildness,  but  his  virtues 
did  not  save  him  from  an  untimely  end.  In 
1523  he  was  brutally  murdered  by  his  arch- 
deacon, Maurice  Kavanagh,  the  Earl  of  Ormond, 
then  Deputy,  being  apparently  an  accessory  to 
the  murder.^ 

Nor  were  the  parochial  clergy  qualified  by 
their  character  and  attainments  to  supply  the 
deficiencies  of  the  hierarchy.  Many  benefices, 
and  those  generally  the  richest,  were  annexed  to 
religious  houses,  which  absorbed  the  greater 
part  of  their  revenues,  while  a  vicar  or  curate 
performed  the  services  at  a  beggar's  salary.  Of 
the  residue  even  the  nominal  incomes  were  very 
small,  and  of  the  nominal  incomes  the  incum- 
bents,   owing    to    the    disturbed    condition    of 

^  Articles  touching  the  misdemeanour  of  the  Earl  of  Ormond, 
1525. 

^  Presentment  of  the  Jury  of  Waterford,  1537.  In  the 
Record  Office  is  a  curious  narrative  of  the  proceedings  of 
Finnin  O'Driscoll,  the  archbishop's  "pirate,"  and  his  two 
sons,  April,  1538. 

^  Articles  touching  the  misdemeanour  of  the  Earl  of  Ormond, 
1525. — Dowling's  yf«««A,  p.  34.  -The  same  historian  mentions 
(p.  32),  as  a  striking  proof  of  the  popularity  of  an  earlier  Bishop 
of  Leighlin,  that  he  "grazed  cows  without  loss";  a  statement 
which  throws  a  curious  light  on  the  condition  of  the  country. 

136 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

society,  were  seldom  able  to  collect  more  than  a 
small  part.  Laymen  and  minors,  even  horsemen, 
it  is  said,  and  gallowglasses,  were  frequently 
intruded  into  livings  by  lay  patrons.  In  many 
parishes  there  was  neither  a  church  in  which 
it  was  possible  to  officiate,  nor  a  parsonage  in 
which  it  was  possible  to  reside.^     At  the  same 

^  "Considering  that  it  is  manifest  and  notorious  that  the 
provisions  and  usurped  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  hath 
been  and  continually  is  the  most  and  principal  cause  of  the 
desolation,  division,  ruin  and  decay  of  the  said  land  of  Ireland; 
by  the  abominable  abuse  whereof  the  cathedral  churches, 
monasteries,  parish  churches,  and  all  other  regular  and  secular, 
for  the  more  part  in  effect  throughout  the  land  be  in  utter 
ruin  and  destroyed  :  for  the  said  Bishop  of  Rome  commonly 
hath  preferred,  by  his  provisions,  to  the  administration  and 
governance  of  them  vile  and  vicious  persons,  unlearned,  being 
murderers,  thieves,  and  of  other  detestable  disposition,  as  light 
men  of  war,  who,  for  their  unjust  maintenance  therein,  some- 
times do  expel  the  rightful  incumbents,  and  other  seasons,  by 
force  of  secular  power,  do  put  the  true  patrons  from  their 
patronage." — Indenture  between  Henry  VIII  and  the  Earl  of 
Ossory,  May  31,  1534.  This  passage  must  be  supposed  to 
refer  principally  to  the  Pale;  but  the  state  of  things  in  the 
Irish  districts  was  very  similar.  On  July  12,  1541,  among 
other  "Ordinances  for  the  Reformation  of  Munster,"  it  was 
ordered  that  archbishops  and  bishops  should  be  permitted  to 
exercise  jurisdiction  in  their  several  dioceses  and  provinces : 
that  laymen  and  minors  should  not  be  admitted  to  benefices ; 
that  clergymen,  whose  annual  incomes  did  not  exceed  ;^iO 
sterling,  should  be  exempted  from  coyne  and  livery ;  and  that 
beneficed  persons  should  take  orders  and  reside.  On  May  19, 
1542,  O'Neil  "promised  to  rebuild  all  parish  churches,  now 
ruined,  in  my  dominion."  On  July  4,  O'Byrne  agreed  to 
allow  beneficed  persons  to  enjoy  their  benefices  without 
molestation.     On  September  i,  O'Rourke  undertook  to  allow 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

time,  in  consequence  probably  of  the  feud  be- 
tween the  Celtic  and  Anglo-Irish  sections  of  the 
clergy,  no  convocation  had  been  held  in  Ireland 
since  the  twelfth  century,  and  the  church  was 
thus  deprived  of  all  means  of  redressing  her  own 
grievances,  and  even  of  giving  constitutional 
utterance  to  her  complaints.  Wretchedly  poor, 
wretchedly  ignorant — the  attempts  which  had 
hitherto  been  made  to  found  a  university  in 
Ireland  had  been  successfully  strangled  by  the 
government^ — neglected  by  the  bishops,  despised 

the  Deputy  to  present  to  the  livings  in  his  country  then 
occupied  by  laymen.  On  July  14,  1543,  Tyrone  and 
O'Donel  agreed  to  suffer  the  Primate  and  other  bishops  to 
exercise  jurisdiction  within  their  territories.  In  October, 
1544,  the  Archbishop  of  Tuam,  the  Bishop  of  Clonfert,  and 
other  clergy  of  Connaught,  complained  to  the  Lord  Deputy 
that  they  were  not  permitted  "to  collect  the  revenues  of  their 
benefices,  seeing  that  the  profits  of  the  same  are  usurped,  and 
altogether  detained  as  well  by  horsemen  as  by  other  lay  persons." 
All  these  documents  are  among  the  Carew  MSS. 

The  report  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries  who  visited  Ireland  in 
1 54 1,  agrees  closely  with  the  account  given  in  the  State 
Papers.  "Hie  vasta  ofFendunt  omnia,  plena  trepidationis  et 
periculi,  longe  opinione  pejora,  non  rei  Catholicae  modo,  verum 
etiam  in  ipsius  civilis  vitae  prudentia  atque  ratione.  Genus 
illuc  hominum  incultum  ac  rude,  et,  quod  deterius  est,  pastorum 
vigiliis  plane  destitutum.  Nulla  erat  apud  eos  parochorum, 
nulla  episcoporum  libera  procuratio." — Hibernia  Ignatiana^  p.  6. 

^  At  least  three  such  attempts  were  made  before  the  Refor- 
mation. In  1 3 1 1  John  Leech,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  procured 
a  bull  from  Clement  V,  directing  the  establishment  of  a 
university  in  Dublin ;  but,  owing  probably  to  the  death  of 
Leech  in  131 3,  this  project  was  never  carried  out. 

In  1320  Leech's  successor,  Alexander  de  Bicknor,  obtained 
a  confirmation  of  this  bull  from  John  XXII.     A  university,  or 

138 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

and  oppressed  by  the  gentry,  the  secular 
priests  had  ceased  to  battle  with  the  prevailing 
heathenism.  Scarcely  distinguishable  in  dress 
and  manners  from  the  lowest  class  of  their 
parishioners,  they  farmed  their  miserable  glebes, 
or  eked  out  their  scanty  incomes  by  charging 
exorbitant  fees  for  christenings,  marriages,  and 
funerals.^ 

If  the  clergy  as  a  class  deserved  little  reverence 
they  received,  perhaps,  still  less  than  they  deserved. 
Forbidden  fruit  has  always  had  an  irresistible 
fascination  for  Irishmen,  and  the  legislation 
which  abolished  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope, 
disestablished  the  monasteries,  and  prohibited 
the  celebration  of  the  mass,  converted  the  vast 

at  least  a  school  of  divinity  and  canon  law,  was  accordingly- 
founded,  and  traces  of  it  may  be  found  as  late  as  the  reign  of 
Henry  VII ;   but  it  eventually  perished  from  want  of  funds. 

In  1465  the  Irish  Parliament,  meeting  at  Drogheda  under 
the  vice-royalty  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  enacted  that  a  uni- 
versity should  be  established  in  that  town,  and  should  enjoy 
the  same  privileges  as  the  University  of  Oxford.  But  this 
institution,  like  the  other,  came  to  a  speedy  end  for  want  of 
an  endowment. — Ware,  Antiquities^  ch.  37. 

^  Presentments  of  Juries,  October,  1537.  "The  Church 
of  this  land  use  not  to  learn  any  other  science  but  the  law  of 
canon,  for  covetyce  of  lucre  transitory  ;  all  other  science, 
whereof  groweth  none  such  lucre,  the  parsons  of  the  church 
despise.  They  cowde  [?hold]  more  by  the  plough  rustical  than 
by  the  lucre  of  the  plough  celestial,  to  which  they  have  stretched 
their  hands  and  look  always  backwards.  They  tend  much  more 
to  lucre  of  that  plough  whereof  groweth  slander  and  rebuke  than 
to  lucre  of  the  souls,  that  is  the  plough  of  Christ." — State  of 
Ireland,  1 5 1 5.      Cf.  Spenser,  View  of  the  State  of  Ireland^  p.  125. 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

majority  of  the   nation   into  docile  children  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  church.     Before  the  Refor- 
mation the  church  in   Ireland   stood   upon  her 
own  merits,  and  religion,  not  having  the  charm 
of  illegality,   had  fallen   into  very  general  con- 
tempt.    "The    noble   folk    of  Ireland,"   says   a 
writer  whom  I  have  already  frequently  quoted, 
"  oppresseth  and    spoileth    the    prelates   of   the 
church  of  their  possessions  and  liberties,"^  and 
the  statement  is  corroborated  by  a  vast  mass  of 
detailed  evidence.     The  eighth  Earl  of  Kildare 
burned   the   cathedral   of   Cashel,    and    excused 
the  proceeding  on  the  ground  that  he  believed 
that  the  Archbishop  was  inside.^     In  1488  James, 
ninth  Earl  of  Desmond,  "  and  other   sons   and 
daughters    of   iniquity " — the  list   includes   the 
most  illustrious  names  in  Munster — robbed  and 
spoiled  the  lands  of  the  Bishop  of  Ardfert.^     In 
1502  Maurice,  tenth  Earl  of  Desmond,  brother 
of  the  aforesaid  James,  "  not  having  the  fear  of 
God  before   his   eyes,"   committed  similar  out- 
rages upon  the  estates   of  the  Bishop   of  Cork 
and  Cloyne.*     The  Butlers  carried  on  a  heredi- 
tary war  with  the  Archbishops  of  Cashel  ;  the 
O'Neils   periodically   burnt   Armagh  ;    and   the 
O'Donels,  on    one  occasion  at  least,  seized  the 
revenues  of  Raphoe.^ 

^  State  of  Ireland,  1515. 

2  Stanihurst,  De  Rebus  in  Hibernia  gestis^  P-  51- 

3  Theiner,  p.  484.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  506. 
^  Stuart's  y/r;7ja^A,  pp.  122,  132. 

140 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

As  a  natural  consequence  the  cathedrals  were 
everywhere  in  ruins.  As  early  as  1440  Arch- 
bishop Prene  had  complained  of  the  miserable 
estate  of  the  Ulster  churches,  and  had  endea- 
voured, but,  as  far  as  can  be  learned,  without 
success,  to  apply  a  remedy.^  In  1515  Leo  X 
appointed  a  commission  to  inquire  into  the  state 
of  the  diocese  of  Clonmacnois,  and  two  years 
later  the  same  pontiff  instituted  similar  inquiries  1517 
with  regard  to  Ardagh  and  Ross.  The  reports 
upon  the  two  former  bishoprics  throw  a  lurid 
light  upon  the  condition  of  the  Irish  church, 
and  incidentally  upon  that  of  the  Irish  peopFe. 
His  Holiness  was  informed  that  the  part  of 
Ireland  nearest  to  England  was  comparatively 
civilized,  but  that  the  rest  was  completely 
savage.  Such  houses  as  there  were  were  built 
of  thatched  wood,  but  the  majority  of  the  people 
lived  with  their  cattle  in  the  fields.  Clon- 
macnois and  Ardagh  were  cathedral  cities  ;  yet 
the  former  consisted  of  only  twelve  miserable 
cabins,  and  the  latter  of  four.  The  cathedrals 
of  both  were  in  ruins  ;  in  each  there  was  but 
one  altar,  that  at  Ardagh  being  exposed  to  the 
open  air  :  and  mass  was  seldom  celebrated. 
Clonmacnois  contained  the  body  of  an  Irish 
saint,  but  the  writer  had  been  unable  to  discover 
his  name.^     The  state  of  Ross  contrasted  on  the 

^  Archbishop  Prene's  Register^  quoted  in  Malone's   Church 
History  of  Ireland^  II,  175. 
^  Theiner,  pp.  518,  521. 

141 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

whole  favourably  with  that  of  the  other  two 
bishoprics,  the  town  containing  nearly  two 
hundred  houses,  and  the  cathedral  being  in 
tolerable  repair.  The  Pope,  nevertheless,  thought 
it  necessary  to  unite  the  diocese  with  Dromore 
at  the  opposite  extremity  of  the  island,  "  on 
account  of  the  poverty  of  both  sees."^  In  1532 
the  Earl  of  Ossory  wrote  to  Cromwell,  apolo- 
gizing for  having  recommended  an  Irishman 
for  the  bishopric  of  Enaghdune.  The  see,  he 
explained,  was  too  poor  for  a  "  foreigner  of 
reputation,"  and,  as  it  was  "situated  among  the 
inordinate  wild  Irish,"  it  could  only  be  governed 
by  "  a  herd  who  had  the  favour  of  the  country."^ 
A  detailed  report  upon  the  condition  of  this 
diocese  a  few  years  later  reveals  a  state  of  affairs 
1555  very  similar  to  that  which  prevailed  at  Clon- 
macnois  and  Ardagh.  The  town,  which  was 
about  five  miles  distant  from  Tuam,  was 
described  as  small  and  unwalled.  The  cathe- 
dral was  in  ruins.  There  were  a  dean,  an 
archdeacon,  and  several  canons  ;  but  none  of 
these  were  resident.  The  inhabitants  were 
"  evil-disposed    men    and    wood-kerne."^      The 

^  Ihld.^  p.  528.     "Brsidy^s  Episcopal  Succession^  II,  109. 

^  Ossory  to  Cromwell,  1532.     Carew  MSS. 

^  "  (Donaldus  Doign)  examinatus  super  statu  et  qualitatibus 
ecclesiae  Anagduanensis  respondit  quod  civitas  Anagduanensis 
parva  et  sine  muris  distat  a  civitate  Tuamensi  per  quatuor  vel 
quinque  milliaria,  et  quod  in  ea  est  parva  ecclesia  cathedralis 
quae  habet  decanum  et  archidiaconum  et  quosdam  canonicos, 
qui    tamen    ibi    non    resident,    et    ecclesia     ipsa    est    penitus 

142 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

Papal  nuncio,  writing  in  1561,  mentions  inciden- 
tally that  the  metropolitan  cathedral  of  Tuam 
had  been  recently  recovered  by  Archbishop 
Bodkin  after  being  used  as  a  barracks  for  more 
than  three  hundred  years.^ 

Turning  from  the  Irish  to  the  Anglicized  or 
half  Anglicized  districts,  we  find  evidence  of  a 
similar  state  of  things.  In  1525  the  Earl  of 
Kildare  informed  the  King  that  the  churches  1525- 
in  Kilkenny  and  Tipperary  were  "in  such  ^534 
extreme  decay  that  there  is  no  divine  service 
kept  there.  If  the  King's  Grace  do  not  provide 
a  remedy,  there  is  like  to  be  no  more  Christen- 
tie  there  than  in  the  midst  of  Turkey."^ 
Archbishop  Inge,  writing  three  years  later, 
described  "  the  lamentable  decay  of  this  land" — 
meaning  the  Pale — "  as  well  in  good  Christi- 
anity as  in  other  laudable  manners,  which  hath 
grown  for  lack  of  good  prelates  and  curates  in 
the  Church.  The  diocese  of  Meath,"  he  added, 
"  which  is  largest  of  cure  and  most  of  value  for 
an  honourable  man  to  continue  in,  is  far  in  ruin, 

desolata.  .  .  .  Dioecesis  est  admodum  parva  et  intra  silvestres 
et  malos  homines  sita." — Moran's  Archbishops  of  Dublin, 
p.  415. 

^  "  Ed  essendo  quella  chiesa  per  300  anni  per  fortezza  nelle 
mani  gentil  uomini,  senza  messa  ne  altro  officio  divino,  lui 
I'ha  tolto  per  forza  dalle  mani  loro  con  grande  pericolo  della 
sua  persona,  e  dove  prima  erano  cavalli  ed  altri  animali,  ora  si 
canta  e  si  dice  messa  in  essa." — David  Wolf  to  the  Cardinal 
Protector,  October  12,  1561.     Ibid.,  p.  418. 

^  Articles  touching  the  misdemeanour  of  the  Earl  of  Ormond. 

H3 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

both  spiritually  and  temporally,  by  the  absence 
of  the  bishop  there."  ^  In  1534  the  Earl  of 
Ossory  complained  that  "  the  cathedral  churches, 
monasteries,  and  all  other,  both  secular  and 
regular,  throughout  the  land  were  in  ruins  and 
decayed."^ 

The  duties  which  were  neglected  by  the 
parochial  clergy  were  performed,  not  altogether 
inadequately,  by  the  religious  orders.  The  history 
of  these  orders  is  extremely  curious.  Before  the 
Norman,  or  at  least  before  the  Danish,  invasion 
the  Irish  church  had  been  almost  exclusively 
monastic.  Secular  priests  were  few  ;  and 
bishops,  though  numerous,  had  no  definite 
jurisdiction,  and  were  greatly  inferior  in  wealth 
and  dignity  to  the  heads  of  the  religious  houses. 
Those  houses  were  in  early  times  extraordinarily 
numerous — in  the  seventh  century  the  monks 
are  said  to  have  outnumbered  all  the  other  in- 
habitants of  the  island,^ — but  they  were  not 
connected  with  any  of  the  orders  recognized  by 
the  universal  church  ;  and  when  Columbanus 
and  other  Irish  missionaries  established  monas- 
teries on  the  Celtic  model  in  Gaul  and  Germany, 
they  speedily  came  into  conflict  with  the  eccle- 
siastical authorities. 

Of  these  monasteries  a  few  survived  until  the 
sixteenth    century — the    abbey    of   Armagh    is 

^  Inge  and  Bermingham  to  Wolsey,  February  23,  1528. 
2  Ossory  to  Henry  VIII,  May  31,   1534. 
^  Archdall's  Monasttcon  Hihernkum^  p.  xi. 

144 


THE   IRISH    CHURCH 

popularly  supposed  to  have  been  founded  by 
St.  Patrick  ;  that  of  Derry  by  St.  Columba  ; 
and  the  nunnery  of  Kildare  by  St.  Brigid — but  a 
much  larger  number  were  destroyed  during  the 
Danish  wars  :  and  of  the  abbeys  and  priories 
which  were  in  existence  in  1535,  the  vast 
majority  date  from  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries.  The  earliest  religious  houses  of  the 
continental  type  were  established  by  the  Danes 
in  Dublin,  Wexford,  and  Waterford,  after  their 
conversion  to  Christianity  about  the  middle  of 
the  eleventh  century.  In  the  twelfth  century 
the  Roman  system  of  diocesan  episcopacy  was 
introduced  into  Ireland  under  the  auspices  of  1140 
Malachy  O'Morgair,  Archbishop  of  Armagh  ; 
and  its  introduction  was  accompanied  or  followed 
by  a  radical  reform  in  the  organization  of  the 
Celtic  monasteries.  Many  new  monasteries  were 
founded  about  this  period  ;  many  of  the  older 
foundations  were  enlarged  and  remodelled.  The 
Norman  invasion  gave  a  fresh  impulse  to  the 
monastic  movement.  The  most  brutal  and  profli- 
gate of  the  invaders  sought,  according  to  the 
ideas  of  piety  which  were  then  fashionable,  to 
purchase  forgiveness  for  their  crimes  by  lavish 
bequests  to  the  Church  ;  and  no  names  are  more 
conspicuous  among  the  patrons  of  Irish  monas- 
teries than  those  of  Richard  de  Clare  and  William 
Marshall,  of  John  de  Courcy,  of  Hugh  and 
Walter  de  Lacy,  of  Philip  of  Worcester,  and  of 
William  FitzAdelm.     The  native  princes  were 

145  L 


THE   IRISH    CHURCH 

not  slow  to  copy  this  example.  Dermot 
MacMurrough  strove  in  vain  to  quiet  the 
reproaches  of  a  guilty  conscience  by  magnificent 
foundations  at  Ferns,  Baltinglass  and  Dublin. 
The  religious  houses  founded  by  Donal  O'Brien, 
King  of  Thomond,  were  scattered  over  Clare, 
Tipperary  and  Limerick  ;  and  Cathal  of  the  Red 
Hand  was  the  founder  or  benefactor  of  numerous 
monasteries  in  Connaught.^ 

It  is  impossible  to  compute  with  any 
approach  to  accuracy  the  number  of  these 
establishments  which  existed  in  Ireland  at 
the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 
Sir  James  Ware  enumerates  three  hundred  and 
sixty-two,  designedly  omitting  those  which, 
founded  in  the  earlier  ages  of  the  church, 
had  been  subsequently  converted  into  parish 
churches.  Of  these  one  hundred  and  forty-two 
were  situated  in  Leinster,  ninety  in  Munster, 
eighty-two  in  Connaught,  and  forty-eight  in 
Ulster.  But  Ware,  although  a  very  learned 
and  industrious  writer,  appears  to  have  been 
ill-informed  with  regard  to  the  mere  Irish 
districts,  and  later  writers  have  shown  that  his 
list  is  by  no  means  complete.     There  is  every 

^  My  account  of  the  Irish  monasteries  is  based  on  a  com- 
parison of  Ware's  Antiquities  of  Ireland  (ed.  1705)  ch.  26  ; 
Harris's  edition  of  the  same  (1764),  ch.  38,  where  Ware's 
account  is  re-written  and  greatly  enlarged  ;  Mervyn  Archdall's 
Monasticon  Hibernicum  ;  Alemand^s  Histoire  monastigue  cTIr/andei 
and  J  Second  Thehaid,  by  Father  J.  P.  Rushe. 

146 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

reason    to    believe    that    the    Irish    monasteries    1541 
amounted,  at  the   time   of  their  dissolution,  to 
between  five  and  six  hundred.^ 

The  monks  were  of  both  races,  of  various 
orders,  and  of  every  conceivable  social  grade. 
The  Augustinians  or  canons  regular  vs^ere  by 
far  the  most  numerous,  the  old  Celtic  monas- 
teries having,  with  very  few  exceptions,  adopted 
the  Augustinian  discipline  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury. Their  establishments,  according  to  the 
most  moderate  computation,  exceeded  two 
hundred,  of  which  about  seventy  belonged  to 
the  Aroasian  canons — a  branch  of  the  Augusti- 
nian order  reformed  about  the  end  of  the 
eleventh  century  at  the  abbey  of  Aroasia  in  the 
diocese  of  Arras.  Of  the  kindred  order  of  St. 
Victor  there  were  seven  houses ;  of  the  order 
of  St.  Norbert  as  many. 

In  power  and  splendour  none  of  these  foun- 
dations could  be  compared  with  the  great 
Benedictine  and  Cistercian  monasteries.  The 
Benedictines  were  few — they  had  not,  it  appears, 
more  than  nine  abbeys  in  the  whole  island — but 

^  Archdall  enumerates  more  than  lOOO  monasteries,  but 
many  of  these  had  been  either  destroyed  or  converted  into 
parish  churches  long  before  the  Reformation.  Alemand  places 
the  total  number  at  rather  more  than  400  ;  Harris  at  565  ; 
Sylvester  Malone  {Church  History^  II,  347-358)  at  537. 
Mr.  Bagwell  thinks  that  the  religious  houses  in  Ireland  at  the 
time  of  their  suppression  numbered  about  350,  exclusive  of 
those  belonging  to  the  mendicant  orders,  of  which  there  were 
rather  more  than  200. — Ireland  under  the  TudorSy  I,  318. 

H7 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

some  of  these  were  of  primary  importance. 
The  Cistercians,  or,  as  they  were  sometimes 
called  after  one  of  their  most  illustrious  mem- 
bers, the  Bernardines,  an  order  of  Benedictines 
reformed  in  the  eleventh  century  at  Citeaux, 
were  much  more  numerous.  Their  houses,  at 
the  time  of  their  suppression,  numbered  about 
forty,  among  which  were  many  of  the  richest 
and  most  splendid  in  the  country. 

Of  the  Hospitallers  or  Knights  of  St.  John — 
a  military  order  which  had  completely  lost  its 
religious  character — there  were  twenty-four 
commanderies.  Many  of  these,  including  the 
Grand  Priory  of  Kilmainham,  had  originally 
belonged  to  the  Knights  Templars,  and  had 
been  transferred  to  the  Hospitallers  when  the 
property  of  the  former  order  was  confiscated  by 
Edward  II.  The  Grand  Prior  sat  among  the 
spiritual  peers,  and  more  than  one  holder  of  the 
office  was  conspicuous  for  licentiousness  and 
turbulence  even  among  the  barons  of  the  Pale.^ 
I  have  reserved  to  the  last  the  mention  of  a 
class  which,  far  inferior  in  wealth  and  social 
position  to  the  preceding  orders,  had,  since  the 
beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  exercised  a 
much  greater  influence  over  the  religious  life  of 
the  people.  The  Dominicans,  instituted  in 
1224-  1 216,  were  introduced  into  Ireland  only  eight 
1300     years  later.     The  earliest  Dominican  friary  was 

^  See  the   extraordinary    account  of  James  Keating,  who 
became  Grand  Prior  in  1461,  in  Gilbert's  Viceroys^  p.  397. 

148 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

erected  in  Dublin  on  the  spot  where  the 
King's  Inns  now  stand ;  others  at  Kilkenny, 
Drogheda,  and  elsewhere  soon  followed.  The 
first  Franciscan  missionaries  arrived  in  1230: 
before  the  end  of  the  century  they  had 
established  friaries  at  Youghal,  Carrickfergus, 
Kilkenny,  Dublin,  Athlone,  Wexford,  Limerick, 
Dundalk,  and  Armagh.^  In  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII,  the  houses  of  the  former  order 
numbered  forty-two,  those  of  the  latter  one 
hundred  and  fourteen.  The  Carmelites  had 
twenty  friaries,  and  the  Eremites  or  Austinfriars 
thirty-six.  The  island  contained  over  seventy  1539 
nunneries,  of  which  all  except  seven  belonged  to 
regular  canonesses. 

The  influence  of  these  institutions  on  the 
general  prosperity  of  the  country  has  been  very 
variously  estimated.  This  portion  of  our  history 
has  unhappily  passed,  to  a  great  extent,  into  the 
hands  of  theologians,  and  has  been  obscured  by  a 
large  amount  of  bigotry  and  misrepresentation. 
Roman  Catholic  writers  have  described  the 
monasteries  as  educational  and  charitable  insti- 
tutions of  which  the  value  could  scarcely  be 
exaggerated :  Protestants  have  not  scrupled  to 
denounce    them  as   haunts    of   immorality  and 

^  De  Burgo,  Hibernia  Domtnicana^  pp.  38,  42.  Wadding, 
Annates  Minorum^  II,  249-2 50.  The  Ancient  Dominican 
Foundations  in  Ireland.  An  appendix  to  G'Heyne's  Epilogus 
ChronologicuSy    by    Ambrose    Coleman.       Brenan,    pp.    305- 

313- 

149 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

idleness.     The  truth,  as  is  usually  the  case,  lies 
somewhere  between  these  extremes. 

It  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  the  greater 
monasteries  rendered  considerable  services  to,  at 
least,  the  English-speaking  portion  of  the  com- 
munity. The  island  at  this  time  contained 
neither  schools  nor  universities  ;  the  religious 
houses,  to  some  extent,  supplied  their  place  and 
provided  an  education  which,  although  tinged 
with  obscurantism,  was  infinitely  preferable  to 
no  education  at  all.  There  were  many  monas- 
teries in  which  "young  men  and  children,  both 
gentlemen's  children  and  other,"  were  "brought 
up  in  virtue,  learning,  and  the  English  tongue 
and  behaviour,  to  the  great  charges  of  the 
said  houses."  The  nunnery  of  Gracedieu  was 
famous  as  a  seminary  for  young  ladies.  The 
gentlemen  of  the  Pale  received  their  education 
from  the  Augustinian  canons  of  Christ  Church, 
Kells,  and  Connal,  or  from  the  Cistercians  of 
Jerpoint  and  St.  Mary's,  Dublin.  Other  mon- 
asteries served  as  houses  of  entertainment  "in 
default  of  common  inns,  which  are  not  in  this 
land,"  the  poorer  travellers  being  lodged  gratui- 
tously, while  the  richer  were  expected  to  make 
a  donation,  which  was  applied  to  charitable 
uses.^  Hospitals  for  the  care  of  the  sick  poor 
were    attached  to  many   monasteries,^  and    the 

^  Lord    Deputy    and    Council    to    Cromwell,    May    21, 

1539- 

^  See  much  evidence  of  this  in  Brenan,  pp.  433-440. 

150 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

brethren  appear  to  have  expended  considerable 
sums  in  almsgiving.  In  a  more  advanced  state 
of  society  the  economic  effects  of  this  indis- 
criminate charity  might  have  been  extremely 
mischievous ;  in  a  country  as  poor  and  back- 
•ward  as  Ireland  then  v^^as  the  good  greatly 
outweighed  the  evil.  The  monastic  lands, 
which  are  said  to  have  been  the  best  cultivated 
in  the  island,  afforded  employment  to  a  con- 
siderable body  of  labourers,  and  the  services 
of  the  monks  to  commerce  were  admitted 
even  by  so  violent  a  Protestant  as  Archbishop 
Loftus.^ 

On  the  other  hand  the  defects  of  the  Irish 
monastic  system  were  sufficiently  glaring.  In 
the  matter  of  sexual  morality,  indeed,  the  monks 
seem  to  have  contrasted  favourably  with  their 
brethren  in  other  countries.  Robert  Cowley, 
it  is  true,  declared  that  the  religious  houses 
in  Ireland  were  less  continent  and  virtuous  than 
those  in  England  ;^  but  Cowley  was  an  extreme 
and  unscrupulous  partizan,  and  the  charge  is 
wholly  unsupported  by  detailed  evidence.  The 
statements  of  Browne  and  Bale  are  equally  open 
to  suspicion  ;  but  there  are  a  few  well-established 
instances  of  actual  misconduct.  In  1530  the 
corporation  of  Galway  found  it  necessary  to 
enact  that  no  monk  should  keep  a  concubine  ;^ 

^  Stubbs's  History  of  the   University  of  Dublin^  Appendix  II. 
^  Cowley  to  Cromwell,  October  4,  1536. 
^  Hardiman's  History  of  Galway ^  p.  238. 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

and  seven  years  later  the  grand  juries  of  Clonmel 
and  Waterford  described  the  great  Cistercian 
abbey  of  Inislonaught  as  a  hotbed  of  immo- 
ralityJ  But  such  cases  were  rare  ;  and  it  is 
an  extremely  significant  fact  that,  whereas  in 
the  act  for  the  dissolution  of  the  English  monas- 
teries, the  "vicious  living"  of  their  inmates  is 
expressly  mentioned,  the  Irish  monks  are  charged 
with  nothing  worse  than  being  "  addicted  to 
their  own  superstitious  ceremonies,  and  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  Roman  Pontiff."^  But  the 
great  monasteries  were,  with  very  few  excep- 
tions, essentially  English  institutions  ;  and  of 
the  benefits  which  they  undoubtedly  conferred 
upon  the  Anglo-Irish,  the  native  population 
received  no  share.  Their  superiors  were  rather 
warriors  and  politicians  than  churchmen,  and 
were  much  more  largely  occupied  with  temporal 
than  with  spiritual  interests.  Fourteen  mitred 
abbots  of  the  order  of  St.  Bernard,  ten  mitred 
priors  of  the  order  of  St.  Augustine,  and  the 
Grand    Prior    of  the    Hospitallers    sat    in    the 

^  "  James  Butler,  Abbot  of  Inislonaught,  is  a  man  of  odious 
life,  taking  yearly  and  daily  other  men's  wives  and  daughters, 
and  useth  no  divine  service." — Presentment  of  the  Jury  of 
Waterford,  October,  1537.  "The  abbey  of  Inislonaught 
beside  Clonmel  useth  no  divine  service  ;  and  the  Abbot  of  the 
same  using  his  leman  or  harlot  openly  by  day  and  night  to  his 
pleasure,  and  every  monk  of  his  having  his  harlot." — Present- 
ment of  the  Jury  of  Clonmel,  October,  1537. 

^  Patent  Rollsy  I,  55.  Compare  English  statutes,  27 
Henry  VIII,  c.  28. 

152 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

parliament  of  the  Pale,  and  were  not  inferior  in 
wealth  and  dignity  to  the  greatest  of  the  lay 
peers.^  From  the  foundations  over  which  these 
dignitaries  presided,  and  from  some  others  of 
less  note.  Irishmen  were  jealously  excluded. 
The  monks,  indeed,  had  retained  their  exclu- 
sive character  more  completely  than  any  other 
section  of  the  community,  a  celibate  clergy 
being  to  a  great  extent  untouched  by  the 
influences  which,  among  other  classes,  tended 
to  an  amalgamation  of  races.  We  have  seen 
how  in  the  fourteenth  century  the  abbots  of 
Granard  and  Inch  had  taught  that  to  kill  an 
Irishman  was  no  sin  ;  and  their  practice  corres- 
ponded only  too  closely  with  their  theory. 
Regular  as  well  as  secular  ecclesiastics  attended 
the  Lord  Deputy  to  battle  ;  and  monasteries  in 
the  border  districts  were  habitually  used  as 
fortresses.  The  great  Augustinian  priory  of 
Connal  guarded  the  south-western  frontier  of  the 
Pale.  The  priory  of  Louth  answered  a  similar 
purpose  in  the  north.^  On  the  other  hand,  there 
were  many  monasteries  into  which  no  monk  of 
English  race  could  obtain  admission.  In  the 
west,  in  particular,  where  the  ecclesiastical  orga- 
nization of  the  sixth  century  still  to  some  extent 
survived,  we  find  monasteries  connected  with 
particular  clans.  In  such  cases  the  office  of  abbot 
was  usually  annexed  to  that  of  chief,  and  was 

^  Ware's  Annals^  1539' 

^  Statute  of  Kilkenny^  pp.  49-50. 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

filled  by  a  layman,  whose  ecclesiastical  functions 
were  discharged  by  a  deputy.^ 

A  letter  written  by  an  abbot  of  Mellifont 
about  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  throws 
a  curious  light  on  the  relations  between  the 
Anglo-Norman  monks  and  their  Celtic  brethren. 
Mellifont,  the  oldest  and  very  much  the  richest 
of  the  Cistercian  monasteries,  was  founded  about 
twenty  years  before  the  Norman  invasion  by 
Donough  O'Carroll,  prince  of  Uriel.  After 
the  invasion  the  abbey,  which  was  situated  a 
few  miles  from  Drogheda,  in  the  county  of 
Louth,  became  practically  an  Anglo-Norman 
house.  Its  abbot  took  precedence  of  all  other 
abbots,  and  claimed  a  jurisdiction  over  the  entire 
order,  to  which  the  Celtic  monasteries  were  by 
no  means  disposed  to  submit.  In  the  letter  to 
which  I  have  alluded,  the  condition  of  those 
monasteries  is  described  from  the  standpoint  of 
an  Anglo-Irish  ecclesiastic.  The  buildings  were 
in  ruins  ;  the  revenues  were  embezzled  by  lay- 
men ;  the  monks  wandered  about  in  search  of 
the  necessaries  of  life.  No  hospitality  was  kept. 
Many  monks  were  addicted  to  vices  which  the 
writer  hesitated  to  name  lest  he  should  tarnish 
the  character  of  the  entire  order.  The  picture 
is  probably  over-coloured,  for  the  abbot  wrote 
under    the  influence   of   the   strongest    national 

^  See  the  submission  of  Hugh  O'Kelly,  chief  captain  of  his 
nation  and  hereditary  Abbot  of  Knockmoy,  May  24,  1542. 
Carew  MSS. 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

prejudice,  and  his  narrative  was  based,  as  he 
himself  admitted,  on  hearsay  evidence.  Nor 
indeed  wa.s  it  possible  for  him  to  obtain  more 
precise  information  ;  for  the  native  monks  stub- 
bornly refused  to  acknowledge  his  authority,  and 
could  not  be  induced  either  by  fear  or  friendship 
to  appear  in  answer  to  his  summons.  When, 
as  a  last  resource,  the  abbot  appointed  visitors 
to  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  Ulster  mona- 
steries, the  visitors  were  repelled  with  arrows.^ 
The  feud  which  pervaded  every  other  portion 
of  the  ecclesiastical  body  did  not  extend  to  the 
"  poor  friars  beggars."  Even  those  writers  who 
spoke  with  most  severity  of  the  clergy  as  a  whole 
were  accustomed  to  exempt  the  mendicant  orders 
from  the  general  condemnation.'^  To  those  orders 
and  to  them  alone,  it  was  owing  that  a  faint  spark 
of  religious  feeling  survived  in  Ireland  even  in 
the  wildest  districts  and  in  the  most  troubled 
times.  In  the  most  distant  parts  of  Ulster  and 
Connaught,  in  the  barbaric  dominions  of  the 
house  of  Desmond,  and  in  the  wasted  marches 
that  lay  along  the  borders  of  the  Pale,  Domini- 
cans and  Franciscans  preached  and  ministered 
the   sacraments   unceasingly,   while   the   secular 

1  Malone's  Church  History,  II,  1 75-177. 

^  "There  is  no  archbishop  ne  bishop,  abbot  ne  prior, 
parson  ne  vicar,  ne  any  other  person  of  the  Church,  high  or 
low,  great  or  small,  English  or  Irish,  that  useth  to  preach  the 
word  of  God,  saving  the  poor  friars  beggars." — State  of  Ire- 
land, 151 5. 

^55 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

priests  were  sunk  in  vice  and  apathy,  and  bishops 
and  mitred  abbots  vied  with  the  greatest  of  the 
lay  nobility  in  extortion  and  turbulence.  Their 
creed  might  be  grossly  superstitious,  their  edu- 
cation scanty,  their  manners  coarse.  But  of 
their  zeal  and  piety  there  could  be  no  question  ; 
and  it  is  to  their  efforts,  powerfully  seconded 
by  the  ill-judged  proselytism  of  Browne  and  Bale, 
that  the  complete  and  lasting  failure  of  the  re- 
formed church  in  Ireland  must  be  ascribed. 

In  March,  1535,  George  Browne,  an  English 
Augustinian,  who  had  acquired  considerable 
notoriety  by  the  zeal  with  which  he  had  advo- 
1535  cated  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith,  was  appointed  to  the  see  of  Dublin,  and 
was  placed  at  the  head  of  a  commission  for  pro- 
curing the  assent  of  the  Irish  people  to  the 
dogma  of  the  King's  spiritual  supremacy.^ 
Browne  was  a  man  of  some  ability,  but  narrow- 
minded,  rapacious,  arrogant,  and  domineering — 
in  a  word,  as  ill-fitted  as  a  man  could  conceivably 
be  for  the  task  of  inducing  a  reluctant  people  to 
accept  a  religion,  of  which  they  had  never  heard, 
at  the  dictation  of  a  government  which  they 
instinctively  disliked.  His  mission  was  as  un- 
successful as  might  have  been  anticipated,  the 
Anglo-Irish    of    the    Pale,    and    the    Celtic    or 

^  Historical  Collections  of  the  Church  in  Ireland  during  the 
reigns  of  Henry  VIII,  Edward  VI,  and  Mary,  set  forth  in 
the  Life  of  George  Browne  [by  Robert  Ware].  Harleian 
Miscellany,  V,  5 95-606. 

.56 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

Celtlclzed  inhabitants  of  the  other  provinces, 
being,  although  for  widely  different  reasons, 
equally  hostile  to  the  new  doctrines.^ 

The  former,  to  whom  alone  the  reformed 
creed  was  at  first  preached,  were  zealous 
Catholics,  and  their  Catholicism,  like  the 
Protestantism  of  the  party  which  succeeded 
to  their  ascendancy,  was  as  much  political  as 
religious.  Adrian  IV  had  bestowed  the  lord- 
ship of  Ireland  upon  Henry  of  Anjou,^  and 
during  more  than  three  hundred  and  fifty  years 
Adrian's  successors  had  been  the  unwavering 
allies  of  the  English  colonists  in  their  warfare 
with  the  hated  Irish.  To  the  Anglo-Irish, 
therefore,  any  attack  upon  the  papal  supremacy 
must  have  been  particularly  odious.  To  re- 
nounce that  supremacy  was  to  strike  at  the  root 
of  their  own  position  as  a  dominant  caste. 

It  might,  perhaps,  have  been  expected  that  the 
same  considerations  which  made  the  Protestant 

^  *'  It  is  observed  that,  ever  since  his  Highness's  ancestors 
had  this  nation  in  possession,  the  old  natives  have  been  craving 
foreign  pow^ers  to  assist  and  rule  them ;  and  now  both  English 
race  and  Irish  begin  to  oppose  your  Lordship's  orders,  and  do 
lay  aside  their  old  national  quarrels." — Brov/ne  to  Cromw^ell, 
May,  1538.      Harleian  Miscellany^  V,  599. 

^  The  Bull  Laudabil'iter  is  printed  in  Giraldus  Cambrensis' 
Expugnatio  Hibern'ne.  Gratianus Lucius,  the  learned  author  of 
Cambrensis  Eversus^  made  an  ingenious  attempt  to  prove  that 
it  was  a  forgery  (c.  lO,  xxii),  and  has  been  followed  by  many 
later  writers;  but  such  attempts  are  altogether  sophistical. 
See  some  candid  and  temperate  remarks  in  L,a.n[ga.n^s  Ecc/esiasticai 
History y  IV,  164-166. 

^57 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

doctrines  unpopular  among  the  Englishry  would 
have  sufficed  to  commend  them  to  the  native 
Irish.  To  them,  however,  the  Reformation 
was  presented,  in  so  far  as  it  can  be  said 
to  have  been  presented  to  them  at  all,  in  a 
political  rather  than  in  a  doctrinal  form.  The 
royal  supremacy,  the  article  of  faith  on  which 
Archbishop  Browne  and  his  colleagues  were 
most  disposed  to  insist,  they  regarded  less  as  a 
theological  dogma  than  as  an  expedient  devised 
to  strengthen  the  English  government  by  in- 
vesting it  with  a  religious  sanction.  The  hatred 
of  the  Irish  chieftains  to  England  was  as  hot  as 
their  attachment  to  Rome  was  lukewarm;  while 
the  disorganization  of  the  parochial  system  had 
thrown  the  religious  education  of  the  common 
people  into  the  hands  of  the  friars,  who  were 
passionately  devoted  to  the  Papacy.  Whether,  by 
a  judicious  policy,  such  Protestant  doctrines  as 
did  not  involve  a  recognition  of  the  royal 
supremacy  might  have  been  propagated  among 
the  Celtic  population,  it  is  idle  to  inquire  ;  for 
no  such  policy  was  adopted.  On  the  contrary, 
the  reformed  church  allowed  itself  to  be  made 
from  the  outset  an  instrument  for  the  anglici- 
zation  of  the  island,  thereby  inevitably  incurring 
the  scorn  and  hatred  of  every  high-minded  and 
patriotic  Irishman.^ 

^  The  anti-national  character  of  the  reformed  church  is 
strikingly  exhibited  by  the  act  28  Henry  VIII,  c.  15,  which 
provided  that  none  but  parsons  who  could  speak  English  should 

.58 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

After  six  months  of  unsuccessful  evangelism 
the  Archbishop  realized  that  his  mission  was  a 
failure,  and  that  his  only  hope  of  making  con- 
verts lay  in  securing  the  assistance  of  the  secular 
power.  "My  most  honoured  Lord,"  he  wrote 
to  Cromwell,  "your  most  humble  servant,  re- 
ceiving your  mandate,  as  one  of  his  Highness's 
commissioners,  hath  endeavoured,  almost  to  the 
danger  and  hazard  of  this  temporal  life,  to  pro- 
cure the  nobility  and  gentry  of  this  nation  to 
due  obedience,  in  owning  of  his  Highness  their 
Supreme  Head,  as  well  spiritual  as  temporal, 
and  do  find  much  oppugning  therein,  especially 
by  my  brother  Armagh,  who  hath  been  the 
main  oppugner,  and  so  hath  withdrawn  most  of 
his  suffragans  and  clergy  within  his  see  and 
jurisdiction.  He  made  a  speech  to  them,  laying 
a  curse  on  the  people,  whosoever  should  own 
his  Highness's  supremacy,  saying  that  this  isle, 
as  it  is  in  their  Irish  chronicles  insula  sacra, 
belongs  to  none  but  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and 
that  it  was  the  Bishop  of  Rome's  predecessors 
gave  it  to  the  King's  ancestors.  There  be  two 
messengers  by  the  priests  of  Armagh,  and  by 
that  Archbishop,  now  lately  sent  to  the  Bishop 
of   Rome.       Your    Lordship    may    inform    his 

be  admitted  to  ecclesiastical  preferment,  unless,  after  procla- 
mation made  at  the  nearest  market  town,  no  such  person  could 
be  found.  The  Act  of  Uniformity  (2  Eliz.,  c.  2)  directed 
that  the  Protestant  service  should  only  be  performed  in  English, 
or,  where  that  language  was  not  understood,  in  Latin. 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

Highness  that  it  is  convenient  to  call  a  parlia- 
ment in  this  nation  to  pass  the  supremacy  by 
act,  for  they  do  not  much  matter  his  Highness's 
commission,  which  your  Lordship  sent  us  over. 
This  island  hath  been  for  a  long  time  held  in 
ignorance  by  the  Romish  orders,  and  as  for  their 
secular  orders,  they  be  in  a  manner  as  ignorant 
as  the  people,  being  not  able  to  say  mass,  or 
pronounce  the  words,  they  not  knowing  what 
they  themselves  say  in  the  Roman  tongue.  The 
common  people  of  this  isle  are  more  zealous  in 
their  blindness  than  the  Saints  and  Martyrs 
were  in  the  truth  at  the  beginning  of  the  Gos- 
pel. I  send  to  you,  my  very  good  Lord,  these 
things,  that  your  Lordship  and  his  Highness 
may  consult  what  is  to  be  done.  It  is  feared 
O'Neil  will  be  ordered  by  the  Bishop  of  Rome 
to  oppose  your  Lordship's  order  from  the  King's 
Highness ;  for  the  natives  are  much  in  numbers 
within  his  power."  ^ 

In  accordance  with  this  advice  the  Irish  par- 
liament was  convened  in  the  following  summer. 
1536  Of  the  persons  who  attended  no  list  has  been 
preserved;  but  it  is  probable  that  nine  counties, 
and  between  twenty  and  thirty  boroughs,  sent 
representatives  to  the  lower  house.  The 
upper  house  must  have  been  composed,  as 
upon  previous  occasions,  of  the  temporal  peers, 
all   of  them  at   this     period   men    of    English 

^  Browne  to  Cromwell,  November  28,   1535.      Harleian 
Miscellany y  V,  595. 

160 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

descent  ;  of  those  among  the  bishops  whose 
dioceses  were  situated  in  the  English  portion  of 
the  island,  and  of  the  heads  of  the  principal 
religious  houses/  In  England  a  convocation  of 
the  clergy  was  always  held  simultaneously  with 
parliament ;  in  Ireland,  where  this  was  not 
the  practice,  the  clergy  were  represented  by 
two  proctors  from  each  diocese,  who  sat  in  the 
House  of  Commons  among  the  lay  members ; 
but  whether  with  a  right  to  vote,  or  merely  as 
"counsellors  or  assistants,"  had  not  up  to  this 
time  been  determined. 

The  parliament  met  for  the  first  time  in  May, 
1536,  and  was  dissolved  on  December  20th 
in  the  following  year,  having  been  repeatedly 
prorogued  in  the  interval  in  consequence  of  the 
disturbed  condition  of  the  country.  The  Earl  of 
Kildare  and  his  kinsmen  were  attainted,  and  their 
lands  vested  in  the  crown.^     An  act  recognizing 

^  For  the  history  and  constitution  of  the  Irish  parliament 
during  the  middle  ages  see  the  speech  of  Sir  John  Davies, 
161 3  {Ireland  under  Elizabeth  and  James  /,  pp.  393-409). 
Davies  does  not  mention  the  abbots  and  priors,  for  whom  see 
Ware's  Annals^  1539-  A  list  of  the  parliament  of  1560  is 
printed  in  the  Irish  Archaeological  Society's  Tracts,  vol.  ii,  pp. 
134-138.  If  this  document  is  genuine  ten  counties  (Louth, 
Meath,  Westmeath,  Dublin,  Kildare,  Carlow,  Wexford, 
Kilkenny,  Tipperary,  and  Waterford),  and  twenty-eight  cities 
and  boroughs,  seventeen  of  which  were  in  Leinster,  sent  re- 
presentatives in  that  year.  The  constituencies  represented  in 
1536  were  probably  the  same,  with  the  exception  of  West- 
meath, which  did  not  become  a  separate  county  until  1543, 
and  a  few  of  the  more  distant  boroughs. 

2  28  Henry  VIII,  c.  i. 

161  M 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

the  validity  of  the  King's  marriage  with 
Anne  Boleyn,  and  securing  the  succession  to 
her  children,  was  passed  and  immediately  re- 
pealed, the  news  of  the  queen's  execution 
reaching  Dublin  a  few  days  after  the  bill  had 
become  law.^  Estates  belonging  to  absentees 
were  confiscated,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  Earl 
of  Shrewsbury  and  the  Earl  of  Wiltshire  being 
particularly  named.^  The  tribute  which,  under 
the  name  of  black  rents,  the  colonists  had 
previously  paid  to  the  native  chieftains,  was 
declared  illegal  and  abolished.^  The  foolish  and 
oppressive  provisions  of  the  Kilkenny  statutes 
were  revived  ;  marriage  and  fostering  with  the 
mere    Irish    were    forbidden  ;"*  and    all   persons 

^  28  Henry  VIII,  c.  2.  The  act  of  repeal  is  not  in  the 
statute  book,  which  was  not  compiled  until  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth.  Schedule  of  Acts  passed  in  the  Parliament  of 
Ireland,  28  and  29  Henry  VIII,  enclosed  by  Brabazon  to 
Cromwell,  December  30,  1537. 

3  28  Henry  VIII,  c.  3. 

3  28  Henry  VIII,  c.  11. 

^  28  Henry  VIII,  c.  28.  "That  no  person  ne  persons  of  the 
King's  subjects  within  this  his  land,  of  what  estate,  degree, 
dignity  or  condition  soever  he  or  they  be,  shall  marry  or  foster 
themselves,  their  children  or  kinsfolk  within  the  fourth  degree 
to  or  with  any  Irish  person  or  persons  of  Irish  blood  .  .  .  and 
if  any  His  Highness's  subjects  of  this  land  do  offend  in  the 
premises  or  any  parcel  thereof,  that  then  every  such  offence 
shall  be  deemed  high  treason.  And  that  every  person  and 
persons  so  offending,  being  thereof  lawfully  convicted  according 
to  the  due  order  and  process  of  the  King's  laws,  shall  be  adjudged 
a  traitor  attainted  of  high  treason,  and  shall  have  and  suffer 
such  pains  of  death,  losses  and  forfeiture  of  lands,  tenements, 
goods  and  chattels  as  in  cases  of  high  treason." 

162 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

were  ordered  to   wear  only   the  English  dress, 
and  to  use  only  the  English  language/ 

These  measures  passed  with  little  opposition, 
parliament  representing  only  the  English  colony 
and  legislating  solely  with  a  view  to  its  interests  ; 
but  Browne  experienced  more  difficulty  in  in- 
ducing the  houses  to  agree  to  his  ecclesiastical 
policy.  Bills  were  introduced  declaring  the 
King  to  be  the  "  Supreme  Head  "  of  the  Church, 
prohibiting  appeals  to  Rome,  suppressing  nume- 
rous monasteries,  and  transferring  to  the  crown 
the  "  first  fruits  "  and  "  twentieth  parts,"  which 
had  been  previously  paid  to  the  Pope  ;  but 
these  only  became  law  after  a  long  and  bitter 
struggle.  The  proctors  of  the  spirituality 
"  stuck  somewhat "  at  these  measures,  and 
were  particularly  reluctant  to  acknowledge  the 
royal  supremacy.  The  bill  nevertheless  passed 
the  Commons  in  the  first  session  ;  but  the 
spiritual  lords,  who  formed  the  majority  of 
the  Upper  House,  refused  to  consider  that  or 
any  other  proposal  until  the  constitutional  posi- 
tion of  the  proctors  had  been  defined.^  The 
opposition  of  this  latter  body  was  overcome  at 
last  by  the  energy  of  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin, 
who  introduced  the  bill  establishing  the  royal 
supremacy  with  these  curiously  characteristic 
words  :   "  My   Lords    and   Gentry    of  this  His 

1  28  Henry  VIII,  c.  15. 

^  Brabazon     to   Cromwell,     May    17,    1536.     Gray    and 
Brabazon  to  Cromwell,  May  18,  1537. 

163 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

Majesty's  realm  of  Ireland,  behold  your  obe- 
dience to  your  King  is  the  observing  of  your 
God  and  Saviour  Christ  ;  for  He,  that  High 
Priest  of  our  souls,  paid  tribute  to  Cassar, 
though  no  Christian  :  greater  honour  surely  is 
due  to  your  Prince  His  Highness  the  King, 
and  a  Christian  one.  Rome  and  her  bishops 
in  the  Fathers'  days  acknovs^ledged  emperors, 
kings  and  princes  to  be  supreme  over  their 
dominions,  nay,  Christ's  own  vicars  ;  and  it 
is  much  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome's  shame  to 
deny  v^^hat  their  precedent  bishops  ov^ned." 
"  He  who  will  not  pass  this  act  as  I  do,"  he 
significantly  concluded,  "  is  no  true  subject  to 
His  Highness."^ 

The  preamble  to  this  act  throws  an  interesting 
light  on  the  opinions  and  motives  of  the  govern- 
ment. "  Like  as  the  King's  Majesty  justly 
and  rightfully  is  and  ought  to  be  the  Supreme 
Head  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  so  is  re- 
cognized by  the  clergy  and  authorized  by  an 
Act  of  Parliament  made  and  established  in  the 
said  realm  :  so  in  like  manner  of  wise,  foras- 
much as  the  land  of  Ireland  is  depending  and 
belonging  justly  and  rightfully  to  the  imperial 
crown  of  England,  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority 
of  this  present  parliament  that  the  King,  our 
sovereign  lord,  his  heirs  and  successors,  kings 
of  the  said  realm  of  England,  and  lords  of  this 

^  Harleian  Miscellany^  V,  596.     - 
164 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

said  land  of  Ireland,  shall  be  accepted,  taken  and 
reputed  the  only  Supreme  Head  on  earth  of  the 
whole  Church  in  Ireland."^  It  was  with  no 
view  to  the  spiritual  improvement  of  the  Irish 
people  that  Browne  and  his  supporters  acted. 
The  Act  of  Supremacy — like  other  acts  of  this 
parliament,  directed  against  the  dress,  the 
language,  and  the  amusements  of  the  people — 
was  merely  a  part  of  the  policy  of  introducing 
English  laws  and  institutions  into  Ireland  with- 
out the  smallest  regard  to  the  needs  or  wishes  of 
the  population. 

The  Supremacy  Bill  became  law  ;  but  the 
struggle  was  renewed  on  the  question  of  the 
religious  houses.  A  bill  for  the  disendowment 
of  these  institutions  was  opposed  by  the  eccle- 
siastical body  in  both  houses,  the  proctors  being 
supported  on  this  occasion  by  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  lay  members.  The  priory  of  St. 
Wolstan,  a  house  of  canons  of  the  order  of  St. 
Victor  in  the  county  of  Kildare,  was  sacrificed  in 
September,  1536,  as  a  peace-offering  to  Henry  ;^ 
with  this  exception  the  monasteries  were  pre- 
served until  the  following  year.  Robert  Cowley, 
a    bitter  Protestant    and    a    most    unscrupulous 

^  28  Henry  VIII,  c.  5. 

^  "  Schedule  of  Acts  passed  in  the  parliament  of  Ireland, 
28  and  29  Henry  VIII."  This  act  is  not  in  the  statute  book. 
On  June  26,  1536,  the  Prior  and  Brethren  of  St.  Wolstan's 
wrote  to  Cromwell,  praying  that  their  house  might  not  be 
dissolved.  They  mention  a  report  that  it  was  intended  for 
the  Master  of  the  Rolls  (MS.  R.O.). 

165 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

jobber,  insisted  angrily  that  the  religious  houses 
in  Ireland  were  even  worse  than  those  in 
England,  and  that  the  reasons  which  had  sufficed 
for  their  suppression  in  the  latter  country  ought 
to  suffice  "  loving  subjects  "  in  the  former  ;  but 
the  majority,  "  presuming  to  have  higher  and 
more  excellent  wits  than  those  in  England," 
thought  otherwise,  and  the  bill  for  their  dis- 
endowment  was  repeatedly  thrown  out.  Patrick 
Barnewall,  the  King's  Sergeant,  was  especially 
vehement  in  opposition,  asserting  loudly  that 
the  King  had  a  right  to  reform  monasteries, 
but  not  to  suppress  and  despoil  them/  In  the 
autumn  he  obtained  leave  to  repair  to  London 
to  lay  his  views  before  Henry.  The  judges, 
meanwhile,  having  investigated  the  claim  of 
the  proctors,  had  pronounced  it  groundless  ; 
and  they  were  deprived  of  their  suffrages 
by  a  special  act.^  Their  disfranchisement  gave 
the  government  a  majority  in  the  House  of 
Commons  ;  but  the  Lords  continued  obdurate, 
and  for  some  months  matters  remained  at  a 
dead-lock.  At  length,  in  October,  1537,  a  com- 
promise was  agreed  upon.  Thirteen  religious 
houses  were  dissolved  by  name,  the  Cistercians 
of  Bectiff,  Baltinglass,  Dousk,  Dunbrody,  and 
Tintern,  the  regular  canons  of  St.  Peter's  near 
Trim,  Duleek,  Ballybogan,  Holmpatrick,  Tagh- 
Moling  and  Ferns,  and   the  regular  canonesses 

^  Cowley  to  Cromwell,  October  4,  1536. 
2  28  Henry  VIII,  c.  12. 

166 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

of  Hogges  and  Grane  being  the  victims/  No 
monastery  in  Ulster,  Munster  or  Connaught 
was  dissolved  by  this  act,  and  the  vast  majority 
even  of  the  Leinster  houses  escaped  destruction 
until  some  years  later. 

In  Ireland,  however,  it  has  always  been  easier 
to  pass  acts  of  parliament  than  to  enforce  them, 
and  the  statutory  religion  made  little  progress 
even  in  the  Pale.  A  form  of  prayer  renouncing 
the  Bishop  of  Rome's  "usurped  authority"  was 
drawn  up  by  Browne ;  ^  but  it  was  seldom  used 
in  his  own  diocese  and  not  at  all  outside  it. 
"Neither  by  evangelical  instruction  nor  gentle 
exhortation,  neither  by  oaths  to  them  straightly 
administered  nor  by  threats  of  sharp  correction," 
could  the  archbishop  induce  any  of  his  clergy, 

^  28  Henry  VIII,  c.  16.  It  has  been  asserted  by  numerous 
writers  that  forty  Irish  monasteries  were  suppressed  in  1528, 
while  the  king  was  still  in  communion  with  Rome.  This 
statement  is  erroneous  ;  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  how  the 
error  originated.  Forty  English  monasteries  were  suppressed 
by  a  royal  commission  in  that  year  ;  and  one  of  the  com- 
missioners, John  Alen,  was  immediately  afterwards  appointed 
to  the  see  of  Dublin.  The  commission  is  noticed  by  Ware 
(I,  347) ;  and  later  writers,  finding  the  transaction  mentioned 
in  the  life  of  an  Irish  archbishop,  have  assumed  that  it  must 
have  taken  place  in  Ireland.  The  statement  of  the  Loftus  MSS.y 
that  the  parliament  of  1536  passed  an  act  for  the  dissolution  of 
three  hundred  and  seventy  monasteries,  is  also  false.  Before  the 
passing  of  the  act  28  Henry  VIII,  c.  16,  eight  abbeys  had  been 
dissolved  by  a  royal  commission. — Gray  and  Brabazon  to 
Cromwell,  May  18,  1537.  This  commission  is  not  now 
extant,  nor  is  it  known  what  were  the  houses  named  in  it. 

^  The  Form  of  the  Beads. 

167 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

"either  religious  or  secular,  once  to  preach  the 
Word  of  God  or  the  just  title  of  our  most  illus- 
trious Prince."  ^  Of  twenty-eight  prebendaries 
of  St.  Patrick's  there  were  not  three  learned,  nor 
one  that  favoured  the  new  doctrines.^  In  the 
adjoining  diocese  the  case  was  still  worse.  Dr. 
Staples,  Bishop  of  Meath,  was  as  zealous  for  the 
royal  supremacy  as  Browne  himself,  and  in  the 
next  reign  he  took  a  leading  part  in  the  intro- 
duction of  the  reformed  liturgy  ;  but  his  views 
were  at  this  time  more  moderate  than  those 
of  his  brother  prelate,  against  whom  he 
"raged  and  railed"  from  the  pulpit,  "calling 
him  heretic  and  beggar,  with  other  rabulou 
1538  revilings."  Pilgrimages  had  never  been  more 
frequent,  and  in  the  church  of  Kilmainham, 
which,  although  within  the  diocese  of  Dublin, 
was  exempted  from  the  archbishop's  authority, 
a  papal  indulgence  was  openly  displayed.^  The 
archbishop  in  his  distress  appealed  to  the  secular 
power  for  assistance,  but  he  got  little  comfort. 
The  king  rated  him  roundly,  accused  him  of 
pride,  lightness  of  mind,  and,  with  less  justice, 
of  negligence   in    the    discharge    of  his    duties, 

^  Browne  to  Cromwell,  January  8,  1538. 

^  Browne  to  Cromwell,  May  8,  1538. 

^  Browne  to  Alen,  April  15,  1538.  See  also  Articles  on  which 
the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  wishes  the  witnesses  to  be  produced 
by  the  Bishop  of  Meath  to  be  examined. — Cotton  MSS.^  TituSy 
b.  X,  231.  Staples,  writing  to  St.  Leger,  says  of  Browne  : 
"Pride  and  arrogance  have  ravished  him  from  the  right 
remembrance  of  himself." — June  17,  1538. 

168 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

and  concluded  by  sharply  reminding  him  that 
he  was  not  a  successor  of  the  apostles,  but  a  civil 
servant  dependent  for  his  official  existence  on 
the  royal  favour.^  The  Lord  Deputy  was  even 
more  open  in  his  hostility,  and,  either  because 
he  sympathized  at  heart  with  the  old  faith,  or 
because  he  had  no  wish  to  add  a  war  of  religion 
to  his  other  troubles,  took  a  malicious  pleasure 
in  releasing  the  friars  and  non-juring  priests 
whom  the  archbishop  had  imprisoned.^ 

In  the  native  districts  the  Act  of  Supremacy 
was  a  dead  letter.  The  monasteries  remained 
standing ;  the  old  services  were  performed  by 
the  old  ministers.  Five  bishoprics  became 
vacant  in  1536  and  the  two  following  years; 
they  were  filled,  as  they  had  always  been  filled,  by 
provision  ;  the  provisors  were  supported  by  the 
native  population,  and  the  rival  bishops  nomin- 
ated by  Henry  were  compelled  to  fly  from  their 
dioceses.^  Richard  Nangle,  provincial  of  the 
Irish  Augustinians  and  a  zealous  reformer,  was 
appointed  by  the  king  to   Clonfert ;    the  Pope 

^  Henry  VIII  to  Browne,  July  31,  1537. 

^  T.  Alen  to  Cromwell,  October  20,  1538.  Browne  to 
Cromwell,  November  6,  1538. 

^  "  There  be  now  lately  five  bishops  in  Ireland  by  the 
Bishop  of  Rome's  authority,  besides  abbots  and  priors." — 
Cowley  to  Cromwell,  July  19,  1538. 

"  The  Archbishop  of  Tuam  and  such  other  promotions  as 
the  King's  Majesty  hath  given  anywhere  under  their  rules  by 
their  commendations,  the  Bishop  of  Rome  hath  given  them  to 
others,  whom  they  maintain." — Alen  to  Cromwell,  July  10, 

1539- 

169 


THE    IRISH    CHURCH 

conferred  the  bishopric  upon  Roland  De  Burgh  ; 
and  De  Burgh  was  supported  by  his  kinsman 
MacWilliam,  "a  naughty  traitorous  person, 
governor  of  those  parts."  It  was  in  vain  that 
the  aggrieved  prelate  "showed  the  King's 
broad  seal  for  justifying  of  his  authority." 
MacWilliam  "little  esteemed,  but  threw  it  away 
and  vilipended  the  same";  and  the  would-be 
evangelist  thought  it  prudent  to  return  to 
Dublin,  where  he  acted  as  suffragan  to  the 
archbishop.^  We  shall  hear  of  him  again  in 
the  next  reign,  when  he  re-appears  as  "the 
drunken  Bishop  of  Galway,"  who  spent  his  days 
in  confirming  young  children  at  twopence  a 
head,  and  his  nights  in  drinking  aquavitas  and 
"rob-davy."' 

^  Browne  to  Cromwell,  February  i6,  1539. 
^  Bale's  VocacyoTiy  Harleian  Miscellany^  VI,  452. 


170 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

With  the  surrender  of  the  young  Earl  of  Kil- 
dare  the  government  believed  that,  although 
rebellion  might  still  smoulder  in  remote  districts, 
serious  danger  was  at  an  end.  At  the  end  of 
August  Lord  Leonard  Gray  sailed  for  England,  1535 
taking  his  prisoner  v^ith  him ;  in  September 
Skeffington,  ably  assisted  by  Ossory  and  James 
Butler,  overran  the  south-eastern  counties,  and 
before  the  end  of  the  year  Carlov\r  and  the  four 
shires  above  the  Barrov^  had  been  practically 
annexed  to  the  Pale.^  But  Butler  was  less 
successful  in  the  west,  where  O'Brien  and  "the 
pretended  Earl  of  Desmond"  were  still  in  arms. 
O'Brien,  it  is  true,  wrote  to  Henry  on  October 
13th,  apologizing  for  the  assistance  which  he 
had  given  to  Kildare,  and  making  something 
like  an  offer  of  submission;^  but  either  the 
letter  was  a  mere  ruse,  devised  to  gain  time,  or 
the  writer  speedily  saw  cause  to  change  his 
mind.  Neither  he  nor  Desmond  had  any  real 
intention  of  submitting,  and  the  approach  of 
winter  made  it  difficult  to  coerce  them. 

^  Aylmer  and  Alen  to  Cromwell,  December  31,  1535. 
^  O'Brien  to  Henry  VIII,  October  13,  1535. 

171 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

SkefRngton,  whose  health  had  long  been 
delicate,  died  on  the  last  day  of  the  year,  and 
Gray,  who  had  just  returned  from  England,  was 
immediately  appointed  to  succeed  him.^  During 
his  absence  fresh  disturbances  had  broken  out  in 
Leinster,  and  these  disturbances  it  was  his  first 
duty  to  suppress.  Nor  was  the  task  a  hard  one, 
for  the  strength  of  the  Leinster  septs  had  been 
effectively  broken  in  the  preceding  summer. 
1536  O'Conor  and  O'Byrne  submitted  in  January, 
and  MacMurrough  a  few  months  later.^  The 
subjugation  of  the  great  Munster  chieftains  was 
a  task  of  very  different  magnitude,  and  Gray 
found  himself  hampered  at  the  outset  by  the 
chronic  difficulty  of  all  Irish  governors — lack  of 
money. 

The  pay  of  the  troops  had  for  some  months 
been  in  arrear,  and  the  soldiers,  compelled  to 
choose  between  dying  of  starvation  and  living 
by  plunder,  had  preferred  the  latter  alternative  ; 
excusably,  no  doubt,  but  with  results  alike 
ruinous  to  their  own  discipline  and  to  the 
general  tranquillity  of  the  country.  Towards 
the  end  of  June,  just  as  the  Lord  Deputy  was 
about  to  set  out  for  Munster,  the  discontent 
broke  out  into  open  mutiny.^  By  paying  a  part 
of  the  arrears,  and  by  promising  speedy  payment 

^  State  Papers^  II,  297,  n. 
2  Carew  MSS. 

^  Council  of  Ireland  to  Cromwell,  June  30,  1 536.    Brabazon 
to  Cromwell,  June  30. 

172 


THE    GERALDINE    LEACxUE 

of  the  remainder,  Gray  temporarily  succeeded 
in  restoring  discipline,  and  by  the  middle  of 
July  the  army  was  at  last  prepared  to  take  the 
field.  Leaving  Sir  William  Brabazon  to  defend 
the  Pale,  the  Lord  Deputy  marched  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  that  month  to  Kilkenny,  and 
thence  to  Cashel,  where  he  expected  to  meet 
James  FitzGerald,  styling  himself  Earl  of 
Desmond.^ 

Old  Sir  John  of  Desmond,  "who  in  his  life- 
time usurped  both  the  name  and  possessions  of 
the  earldom  of  Desmond  and  all  the  King's 
lands  in  Munster,"  had  died  a  few  weeks  pre- 
viously; and  his  son.  Sir  James,  "had  not  only 
proclaimed  himself  Earl,  usurping  the  same  pos- 
sessions and  lands,  but  also  had  both  achieved 
in  effect  the  power  and  strength  of  all  the 
Englishry  of  Munster,  and  combined  with 
O'Brien  to  be  maintained  against  the  King's 
Majesty  in  the  receiving  of  the  same."  After 
waiting  three  days  at  Cashel  in  the  hope  of 
detaching  Desmond  from  O'Brien,  Gray  entered 
the  Earl's  territory  near  Limerick  and  marched 
against  the  great  castle  of  Lough  Gyr,  "which 
is  a  strong  hold,  situated  in  an  island  of  fresh 
water,  and  in  no  less  estimation  in  these  parts 
than  Maynooth  is  in  the  north  parts."  The 
castle,  which  was  "desolate  and  unwarded" 
was  captured  on  the  thirty-first  "without  any 

^  Council  to  Cromwell,   August   9.     Gray  to  Cromwell,,, 
August  10. 

^11 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

handstroke,"  Desmond,  before  leaving  it, 
having  burnt  the  roof  and  carried  off  the 
doors  and  windows. 

On  the  same  day  Donough  O'Brien  joined 
them  and  renewed  an  offer,  which  he  had  made 
in  the  preceding  year  to  his  brother-in-law,  "to 
serve  the  King  against  all  men,"  stipulating 
only  that  he  should  receive  the  castle  of 
Carrickogynell  as  a  reward  for  his  treachery. 
Gray,  "supposing  it  better  to  satisfy  his  request 
about  the  said  castle  than  to  lose  his  help  and 
^assistance  both  against  his  father  and  James  of 
Desmond,"  agreed  to  this  proposition.  On 
August  ist  the  army  marched  to  Carrickogynell, 
a  formidable  structure  standing  on  a  high  rock 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Shannon,  about  half  a 
mile  from  the  river  and  four  miles  below 
Limerick.  The  garrison,  which  was  com- 
manded by  Matthew  O'Brien,  one  of  Donough's 
partisans,  capitulated  without  resistance.  Gray 
delivered  the  castle  to  Ossory  ;  and  Ossory, 
in  accordance  with  the  agreement  already 
mentioned,  handed  it  over  to    his   son-in-law.^ 

A  more  serious  enterprise  remained.  O'Brien 
and  his  brother  Murrough,  who  as  tanist  of 
Thomond  held  a  strip  of  land  on  the  Clare  side 
of  the  river,  had,  a  few  years  earlier,  erected  a 
bridge  over  the  Shannon  between   Dunace  and 

^  Council  to  Cromwell,  August  9.  Council  to  Henry, 
August  9. — Carew  MSS.  William  Body  to  Cromwell, 
August    9. — Carew   MSS.     Butler  to  Cromwell,  August  1 1 . 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

Killaloe,  "  whereby  they  had  in  a  manner 
subdued  all  the  Englishry  thereto  adjoining, 
and  especially  the  county  of  Limerick."^  This 
bridge  Gray  was  fully  determined  to  destroy. 
Ossory,  indeed,  had  been  anxious  to  attempt  its 
destruction  in  the  preceding  autumn  ;  but 
Skeffington  had  refused,  perhaps  wisely,  to 
sanction  so  perilous  an  undertaking  at  so  late  a 
season  of  the  year.^  The  possession  of  Lough 
Gyr  and  Carrickogynell  made  the  Lord  Deputy's 
task  less  difficult  than  it  would  otherwise  have 
been.  On  August  5th  Gray  and  Butler,  with 
the  army  and  such  ordnance  as  they  had,  were 
conducted  to  the  bridge  by  Donough  "  in  a  secret 
and  unknown  way  on  this  side  of  the  water, 
where  never  English  host  or  carts  came  before." 
The  bridge  was  of  old  timber,  three  hundred 
paces  in  length.  "  On  this  side  was  a  strong 
castle,  builded  all  of  hewn  marble  ;  and  at  the 
other  end  another  castle,  but  not  of  such  force  ; 
both  builded  within  the  water,  somewhat  distant 
from  the  land."  In  order  to  make  the  approach 
more  difficult,  the  defenders  had  themselves 
broken  down  four  arches  between  the  castle 
and  the  left  bank.  "  The  gunners  bent  all  the 
ordnance  upon  the  great  castle  on  this  side, 
shooting  at  it  all  that  day  ;  but  the  castle  was 
of  such  force  that  the  ordnance  did  in  a  manner 
no  hurt  to  it,  for  the  wall  was  at  the  least  twelve 

^  Report  to  Cromwell,  1533. 

^  Ossory  to  Henry  VIII,  January  28,  1536. 

^75 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

or  thirteen  feet  thick,  and  both  the  castles  were 
well  warded  with  gunners,  gallowglass  and  horse- 
men, having  made  such  fortifications  of  timber 
and  hogsheads  of  earth  as  the  like  hath  not  been 
seen  in  this  land."  On  the  morning  of  the  seventh 
Gray,  "  perceiving  that  the  King's  ordnance 
did  little  hurt  to  the  castles,  and  also  that  the  shot 
was  spent,"  ordered  the  soldiers  to  fill  the  water 
with  faggots  between  the  bank  and  the  castle, 
and  to  scale  the  walls.  After  a  few  hours  fighting 
William  Saintlowe  succeeded  in  gaining  posses- 
sion of  the  nearer  and  more  formidable  of  the 
two  fortresses  ;  and  the  garrison,  finding  resist- 
ance hopeless,  "  scope  out  at  the  other  end  by 
footmanship,"  and  made  off  into  Thomond. 

The  success  was  complete ;  and  Gray  was 
eager  to  follow  up  his  victory  by  an  invasion 
of  Thomond  ;  but  his  triumph  was  turned  to 
mortification  by  the  disaster  which  followed. 
Among  the  troops  which  had  accompanied 
Skeffington  to  Ireland  two  years  earlier  was  a 
body  of  Northumbrian  cavalry  trained  in  the 
predatory  warfare  of  the  Scottish  border — pro- 
bably the  best  fighting  men  in  England,  but 
by  no  means  the  most  amenable  to  discipline. 
These  troops,  no  longer  satisfied  with  the  instal- 
ment which  they  had  received  in  July,  chose 
the  moment  of  Gray's  victory  to  raise  "  a  sore 
mutiny  and  insurrection  about  their  wages," 
scornfully  rejecting  all  offers  of  compromise  and 
demanding  payment  to  the  uttermost  farthing* 

176 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

From  them  the  disorder  spread  to  Saintlowe's 
company,  and  thence  throughout  the  whole 
army  ;  and  Gray  believed  his  life  to  be  in  more 
danger  from  his  own  soldiers  than  ever  it  had 
been  from  the  enemy.  It  was  in  vain  that  the 
Lord  Deputy  alternately  promised,  threatened 
and  entreated  ;  to  every  command  the  soldiers 
returned  one  unvarying  answer  :  "  Let  us  have  our 
money  and  we  will  do  it."^  As  a  last  resource 
Gray  offered  them  the  plunder  of  the  cities  of 
Cork  and  Limerick,  and  of  the  town  of  Kil- 
mallock  ;  but  not  even  this  magnificent  bribe 
would  induce  them  to  proceed. 

One  service  they  did  indeed  consent  to  render, 
but  rather  from  a  sense  of  professional  pride 
than  out  of  any  regard  for  the  commands  of 
the  Lord  Deputy.  Ossory,  as  we  have  seen, 
had  handed  over  Carrickogynell  to  his  son-in- 
law  ;  and  Donough  had  entrusted  it  to  its  former 
warden,  on  whose  fidelity  he  believed  that  he 
could  rely.  But  Donough's  treachery  had  dis- 
gusted his  most  ardent  partisans  ;  and,  after 
the  capture  of  the  bridge,  the  warden  declared 
for  O'Brien.  Indignant  at  this  act  of  open 
defiance,  Gray  sent  a  messenger  to  the  garrison, 
commanding  them  to  surrender  the  castle 
without  delay,  "  and  they  so  doing  to  escape 
without    hurt."     To    this    message    no   answer 

^  Council  to  Cromwell,  August  9.  Body  to  Cromwell, 
August  9.  Gray  to  Cromwell,  August  10.  Butler  to 
Cromwell,  August  1 1 . 

177  N 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

was  returned.  Gray  thereupon  sent  a  second 
messenger,  repeating  his  demand  and  adding 
that,  if  they  persisted  in  defending  it,  "  they 
should  die,  man,  woman,  and  child."  The  gar- 
rison, nevertheless,  "  would  in  no  wise  re-deliver 
the  said  castle,  but  defend  it  to  their  best."  Gray 
accordingly  opened  a  bombardment,  and  eventu- 
ally recovered  the  castle,  "  in  the  achieving 
whereof  certain  of  his  retinue  of  the  English- 
men were  slain,  and  others  sore  hurted."  The 
loss  of  the  besiegers  in  killed  and  wounded 
amounted  to  about  thirty  persons  ;  of  the 
defenders  seventeen  had  been  killed  during  the 
siege  ;  the  survivors,  including  the  women  and 
children,  forty-six  in  all,  were  put  to  death,  as 
Gray  had  threatened,  "  except  certain  of  the 
chief  of  them,  being  gentlemen  of  the  O'Briens, 
for  the  redemption  of  whose  lives  both  great 
intercession  was  made  and  good  sums  of  money 
offered  :  which,  being  conveyed  with  us  to  the 
city  of  Limerick,  the  Lord  Deputy  caused  to  be 
arraigned,  according  to  the  order  of  the  King's 
laws,  and  after  to  have  execution  as  traitors 
attainted  of  high  treason."^ 

This,  however,  was  the  only  exploit  which 
the  troops  could  be  induced  to  perform  ;  and 
Gray,  being  unable  to  proceed  by  force,  was 
once  more  compelled  to  negotiate.  His  efforts, 
as  might   have  been   expected,  met   with  very 

^  Council  to  Cromwell,  August  9  and  22.  Gray  to  Henry, 
August  19. 

178 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

little  success.  O'Brien,  "  notwithstanding  his 
letters  and  promises  of  subjection  to  the  King's 
Highness,  would  not  condescend  to  any  con- 
formity according  to  the  same  ";  he  steadily 
refused  to  surrender  the  Kildare  plate  and  jewels, 
which  had  been  entrusted  to  him  by  Earl 
Thomas,  and  which,  by  the  act  of  attainder, 
had  recently  become  the  property  of  the  crown  ;  ^ 
and  he  had  since  committed  a  new  and  still  more 
unpardonable  offence.  After  the  death  of  the 
old  Earl  of  Kildare  the  widowed  Countess, 
accompanied  by  her  younger  children,  had  taken 
refuge  at  the  house  of  her  brother.  Lord  Leonard, 
in  Leicestershire  ;^  her  eldest  son,  Gerald,  after- 
wards the  eleventh  earl,  remained  at  Donore  in 
the  Pale,  under  the  care  of  his  tutor,  Thomas 
Leverous,  subsequently  Bishop  of  Kildare. 
During  some  months  the  government,  occupied 
with  persons  more  likely  to  prove  immediately 
dangerous,  paid  little  attention  to  him  ;  and  it 
was  only  about  the  beginning  of  1536  that 
Henry  seems  to  have  become  suddenly  aware 
that  he  had  scotched,  not  killed,  the  Geraldine 
snake.  After  the  arrest  of  his  uncles,  however, 
in  February  of  that  year,  it  was  rumoured  in 
Ireland  that  the  Lord  Deputy  was  anxious  to 
obtain  possession  of  his  person.  At  the  imminent 
risk  of  his  life — for  he  had  then  not  fully  re- 
covered from  a  severe  attack  of  small-pox — the 

^  Council  to  Cromwell,  August  22. 

^  Countess  of  Kildare  to  Cromwell,  July  16,  1536. 

179 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

child  was  carried  by  the  devoted  Leverous  to 
the  castle  of  his  sister,  Lady  Mary  O 'Conor, 
wife  of  the  chief  of  OfFaly.  But  OfFaly  was 
too  near  the  Pale  to  be  a  very  safe  asylum  for 
a  fugitive  with  a  price  upon  his  head  ;  and,  as 
soon  as  he  was  sufficiently  convalescent  to  endure 
a  longer  journey,  the  young  Gerald,  still  accom- 
panied by  Leverous,  was  conveyed  to  O'Dunn's 
country,  and  thence  to  Thomond,  where  he 
remained  for  several  months  under  the  powerful 
protection  of  O'Brien.  Gray  was  above  all 
things  anxious  to  secure  the  person  of  his 
nephew  ;  but  O'Brien,  who  understood  the 
duties  of  hospitality  better  than  the  Deputy, 
refused  to  betray  his  guest.^ 

Desmond,  left  to  himself,  might  perhaps  have 
proved  more  tractable  ;  he  "  shewed  himself  in 
gesture  and  communication  very  reasonable,'* 
offering  to  give  his  two  sons  as  hostages,  and 
to  submit  his  title  to  the  arbitration  of  the 
Deputy  ;  but  drew  back  at  the  last  moment, 
"  pondering  his  oath  which  he  had  made  to 
O'Brien,  as  he  is  a  person  esteemed  greatly  to 
regard  his  promise,  that  the  one  of  them  should 
not  make  an  agreement  with  us,  without  the 
assent  of  the  other,  and  peradventure  suspecting 
his  title  to  the  earldom,  and  also  perceiving  that 
we  could  not  demour  in  the  country  there  as  we 
thought  to  have  done  ";  and,  after  a   final  and 

^  Stanihurst,  p.  304.  Cowley  to  Cromwell,  August,  1536. 
Cromwell  to  St.  Leger,  August  9,  1537. 

180 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

fruitless  effort  to  induce  the  soldiers  to  attack 
him,  Gray  marched  back  to  Dublin/ 

Money  was  at  last  found  ;  but  when  the 
demands  of  the  army  had  been  satisfied,  the 
autumn  was  too  far  advanced  for  a  fresh 
campaign.  A  third  winter  was  passed  in  in- 
action :  O'Brien  rebuilt  his  bridge,  and  Desmond 
re-occupied  Lough  Gyr.  Donough,  it  is  true, 
still  held  Carrickogynell  ;  but  his  motley  crew 
of  Anglo-Irish  mercenaries  caused  more  annoy- 
ance to  the  Englishry  than  the  clansmen  of  his 
father  had  done.^  The  only  lasting  result  of 
Gray's  victory  was  a  heavy  drain  upon  the 
already  impoverished  exchequer. 

But  even  this  was  not  the  worst.  The 
council  had  been  quarrelling  among  them- 
selves during  the  deputy's  absence  ;  and  the 
deputy  had  no  sooner  reached  Dublin  than  he 
quarrelled  violently  with  the  council.  Of  Alen, 
indeed,  and  Aylmer,  afterwards  the  most  vin- 
dictive of  his  accusers,  he  wrote  at  this  time 
in  a  strain  of  unstinted  eulogy  ;  but  he  was 
already  in  sharp  conflict  with  the  vice- 
treasurer,  Brabazon,  to  whose  mismanagement 
he  attributed  his  late  misfortunes.  Brabazon,  in 
estimating  the  revenue  for  the  coming  year, 
had  relied  largely  on  the  income  to  be  derived 

^  Council  to  Cromwell,  August  22. 

^  Mayor  and  citizens  of  Limerick  to  Ossory,  February  28, 
1539  (MS.  R.O.).  Memoranda  for  the  Lord  Cromwell, 
1539     (MS.  R.O.). 

181 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

from  the  forfeited  estates.  But  the  forfeited 
estates  had  been  so  burnt  and  plundered  by  both 
parties  as  to  be,  for  the  time  at  least,  worthless  ; 
and  there  had  been  other  grave  miscalculations. 
The  deputy  severely  censured  the  treasurer  ; 
the  treasurer  replied  v^ith  counter-charges 
against  the  deputy ;  and  William  Body,  an 
Englishman,  w^ho  had  accompanied  the  army 
to  Munster,  and  had  not  found  in  the  camp  the 
luxuries  to  which  he  considered  himself  to  be 
entitled,  added  fuel  to  the  fire  by  criticizing 
Gray's  military  operations  with  equal  asperity 
and  ignorance.^ 

Brabazon  and  Body  found  no  lack  of  sympa- 
thizers on  either  side  of  the  channel  ;  for  it 
has  always  been  a  tradition  with  the  English 
government  to  expect  its  Irish  representatives 
to  make  bricks  without  straw  ;  and  there  is 
nothing  so  odious  to  a  Dublin  bureaucrat  as 
an  intelligent  viceroy.  In  a  moment  of  supreme 
peril  the  council  had  complained  of  Skeffington's 
imbecility,  and  had  begged  for  a  more  active 
governor  :^  but  the  peril  was,  or  seemed  to  be, 

^  Gray  to  Cromwell,  October  31  ;  November  24,  1536. 
To  the  King,  April  20,  1537.  Body  to  Cromwell,  August  9, 
1536. — Carew  MSS.  View  of  the  accounts  of  William 
Brabazon,  treasurer  of  the  King's  army    (MS.  R.O.). 

^  "Wherefore,  considering  that  he  is  not  able  to  stir,  ne 
execute  his  room  for  debility,  and  that  the  winter  is  drawing 
nigh,  and  also  for  that  the  King  is  determined  that  my  Lord 
Leonard  shall  be  Deputy,  who,  we  trust,  shall  do  high  service  : 
for,  in  judgment  by  his  doings  now,  he  will  execute  that  room 

182 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

past,  and  King  Log,  they  thought,  was  now 
preferable  to  King  Stork.  The  ultra-Protes- 
tants, a  small  but  influential  party,  hated  Gray 
for  his  moderation  ;  and  Ossory  and  his  son 
had  their  own  reasons  for  a  hostility  which 
was  cordially  returned.  The  king  added  to  his 
irritation  by  accusing  him  of  extravagance  and 
advising  the  most  impossible  retrenchments. 
Exasperated  beyond  endurance,  the  unfortunate 
deputy  vented  his  ill-humour  in  a  succession 
of  angry  letters.  Other  Deputies  had  been 
rewarded  for  services  less  valuable  than  the 
seizure  of  the  Earl  of  Kildare  and  his  five  uncles, 
and  the  capture  of  O'Brien's  bridge  ;^  he  had 
looked  for  thanks  and  received  nothing  but 
reprimands.  He  would  continue  to  serve  his 
master  to  the  best  of  his  ability  ;  but,  if  his 
service  was  to  be  of  any  value,  he  must  have 
his  master's  confidence.  His  predecessors  had 
had  the  entire  direction  of  Irish  aff^airs  ;  his 
Majesty  had  lately  thought  fit  to  communicate 
with  subordinate  officials  without  the  knowledge 
of  the    chief   governor  ;  and   his    subordinates, 

very  well  ;  for  he  beginneth  to  order  well  the  army,  and  is  a 
stirrer  abroad  and  no  sleeper  in  the  morning  ;  that  the  King's 
Highness  at  the  return  of  Mr.  Agard  send  as  well  for  the  other 
home  as  a  patent  for  the  Lord  Leonard  of  the  said  office." — 
Aylmer  and  Alen  to  Cromwell,  August  21,  1535. 

^  "I  have  seen  men  for  less  enterprises  than  the  appre- 
hension of  Thomas  Fitzgerald,  and,  after,  the  taking  of  all 
his  five  uncles,  or  the  breaking  of  O'Brien's  bridge,  highly- 
advanced." — Gray  to  Cromwell,  November  23,  1536. 

183 


THE    GERALDINE   LEAGUE 

believing  that  he  had  not  the  confidence  of 
the  crown,  had  presumed  to  conspire  against 
him.  The  King  wished  that  the  army  should 
be  reduced,  and  that  Ireland  should  be  made 
to  pay  its  own  expenses.  To  the  first  suggestion 
Gray  answered  that,  with  O'Brien,  Desmond 
and  O'Conor  in  rebellion  "  it  was  not  meet  to 
abate  the  army,  but  rather  to  increase  the 
same";  to  the  second,  that  the  inhabitants  of 
the  four  shires  had  been  "  so  spoiled,  oppressed 
and  robbed,"  that  they  could  not  give  his  Grace 
"  any  notable  thing,"  and  that  Ossory  would 
not  suffer  taxes  to  be  collected  above  the 
Barrow.  Henry,  perplexed  and  disappointed, 
addressed  an  impartial  reprimand  to  the  Deputy 
and  his  accusers  ;  hinted,  not  obscurely,  that 
they  knew  more  about  the  revenue  than  they 
chose  to  disclose,  and  announced  his  intention 
of  appointing  a  commission  to  inquire  into  the 
state  of  the  country.^ 

His  Majesty  had  indeed  ample  grounds  for 
dissatisfaction.  For  two  years  the  Geraldine 
estates,  extending  over  a  great  part  of  Dublin, 
Kildare,  Carlow  and  Westmeath,  had  lain  waste, 
"not  occupied  ne  manured."^  The  Earl's 
tenants,    most    of  whom    had    been    concerned 

^  Gray  to  Cromwell,  October  31  ;  November  23,  1536. 
Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  the  King,  October  29,  1536; 
April  20,  1537.  Henry  VIII  to  the  Lord  Deputy  and 
Council,  February  25,  1537. 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  the  King,  June  26,  1536. 

184 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

in  the  recent  insurrection,  wandered  disconso- 
lately about  the  country,  and  thought  rather  of 
preserving  their  lives  than  of  improving  pro- 
perty which  it  was  unlikely  that  they  would 
ever  be  permitted  to  enjoy/  The  seizure  of 
Sir  James  FitzGerald  and  his  brethren  con- 
tributed still  further  to  the  general  unrest. 
Irritated  by  the  religious  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  probably  sympathizing  with  the 
house  of  Kildare,  with  which  many  of  them 
were  connected  by  blood  or  marriage,  the  lords 
of  the  Pale  scarcely  attempted  to  defend  their 
lands,  and  gave  the  Deputy  little  advice  and  less 
assistance.  To  complete  the  general  misery. 
Gray   had  been   compelled   by  lack  of  funds  to 

^  "  The  gentlemen  of  the  county  of  Kildare  are  the  most 
sorriest  afraid  men  in  the  world,  for  they  think  they  shall  be 
taken  one  after  another  of  them,  as  Sir  James  Fitzgerald  was, 
and  his  brethren." — Francis  Herbert  to  Cromwell,  March  21, 
1536.  "  May  it  please  your  good  mastership  further  to  under- 
stand that  in  effect  all  the  inhabitants  of  these  four  shires  within 
this  land,  in  the  last  commotion  and  rebellion  of  that  traditor 
and  rebel  Thomas  FitzGerald,  for  the  most  part  by  com- 
pulsion, adhered  to  him  :  by  reason  whereof  the  most  of  them, 
being  indicted  of  high  treason,  remain  in  such  fear,  as  by 
occasion  thereof  we  be  in  doubt  to  trust  to  their  aids  or  succours, 
especially  of  the  bastard  Geraldines  and  other  marchers  :  but, 
standing  in  this  extreme  doubt,  fear  lest  they  would  do  the 
contrary,  if,  by  the  sight  and  dread  of  the  presence  of  this  army, 
they  were  not  repressed." — Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to 
Cromwell,  June  i,  1536.  See  also  their  letter  to  the  King, 
April  20,  1537.  On  July  31,  1537,  a  commission  was  issued 
for  pardoning  persons  who  had  taken  part  in  the  rebellion  on 
payment  of  a  fine  (MS.  R.O.). 

.85 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

billet  troops  upon  the  people  ;  and  the  farmers, 
who  had  lately  been  pillaged  by  the  rebels, 
were  now  subjected  to  the  exactions  of  an  ill- 
paid  and  licentious  soldiery  :  while  the  fall 
of  Maynooth,  Powerscourt,  Rathangan  and 
other  Geraldine  castles  left  the  Pale  more 
exposed  than  ever  to  the  incursions  of  the 
Irish  borderers.^ 

Spring  came  at  last,  and  Gray,  who  was  much 
1537  better  fitted  by  nature  to  command  an  army 
than  to  compose  the  feuds  of  greedy  and  self- 
seeking  politicians,  resolved  to  take  the  field 
without  delay.  A  successful  campaign  would, 
he  felt,  be  an  effective  reply  to  his  calumniators, 
and  he  could  scarcely  be  thwarted  in  the  camp 
as  he  had  been  in  the  council.  O'Conor,  the 
most  dreaded  and  hated  of  the  border  chieftains, 
had  once  more  taken  arms  on  being  informed  of 
the  fate  of  his  brother-in-law,  and  about  the 
middle  of  May  a  hosting  was  proclaimed  against 
him.^  On  the  twenty-ninth  of  that  month 
Gray  and  Brabazon,  attended  by  Lords  Slane, 
Delvin,  and  all  the  gentlemen  of  the  Pale, 
marched  through  Westmeath  to  M*Geoghegan's 
country,  intending  to  invade  Offaly  from  the 
north-west  side ;  while  Ossory,  with  O'Moore 
and  McGillapatrick,  was  instructed  to  attack  the 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council   to  Henry,  April   20.     Gray, 
Brabazon,     Alen,     and     Aylmer    to    Cromwell,    April     29, 

1537. 

^  Gray  and   Brabazon  to  Cromwell,  May  18,  1537. 

186 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

rebellious  district  from  the  south.  The  Earl, 
who  was  suffering,  or  professed  to  be  suffering, 
from  an  injury  to  his  knee,  neglected  to 
keep  his  appointment  ;  but  Gray,  guided 
by  Delvin,  easily  reduced  the  M'Geoghegans, 
O'Melaghlins  and  O'MoUoys,  "which  were 
O'Conor's  adherents  and  most  strength;  whereby 
he  constrained  them  not  only  to  forsake  him, 
but  also  to  aid  our  part  against  him."  Accom- 
panied by  these  allies,  and  still  guided  by  Delvin, 
Gray  then  entered  Offaly  on  the  side  most 
remote  from  the  Pale,  where  no  English  host 
had  ever  yet  passed,  and  laid  siege  to  O'Conor's 
castle  of  Brakland,  "wherein  was  a  good  ward, 
well  victualled,  well  ordnanced  and  well  manned, 
environed  strongly  with  wood  and  moor."  The 
castle  was  captured  after  a  stout  resistance. 
Among  the  defenders  was  a  foster-brother  of 
Cahir  O'Conor,  who  was  pardoned  at  the  latter's 
intercession,  "and  all  the  residue  had  the  pardon 
of  Maynooth."  Guided  by  the  solitary  survivor 
the  Deputy  next  marched  to  another  castle  of 
O'Conor  named  Dengen,  which  is,  being  inter- 
preted, "the  place  of  most  assurance."  The 
castle,  which  had  just  been  completed,  was  said 
to  be  one  of  the  strongest  in  Ireland,  standing  in 
a  marsh,  surrounded  by  a  great  ditch,  and 
defended  by  a  ward  of  forty  men — all  gunners. 
It  was,  nevertheless,  taken  after  some  hard 
fighting,  "and  the  ward  which  was  in  it  had 
the   same   grace   and   pardon   which  such  men 

187 


THE    GERALDINE   LEAGUE 

deserved,  so  as  a  good  company  of  gunners  be 
well  despatched."  ^ 

Leaving  Cahir  O'Conor  in  possession  of 
Offaly,  Gray  next  darted  westvvrard  with  extra- 
ordinary rapidity  and  wrested  the  royal  castle  of 
Athlone,  "which  is  a  great  garrison,  standing  in 
the  midst  of  this  land,  upon  a  passage  betwixt 
Connaught  and  these  parts,"  from  another  sept 
of  the  O'Conors  who  had  had  possession  of  it 
since  the  fourteenth  century.  Nor  did  the  Lord 
Deputy's  success  end  here.  The  Kavanaghs, 
the  Nolans,  O'Carroll,  O'Kennedy,  O'Meagher, 
were  defeated  in  rapid  succession.  Before  the 
end  of  August  the  midland  district,  habitually 
the  most  turbulent  in  Ireland,  had  been  subdued 
from  the  Shannon  to  the  Pale,  and  from  the 
bounds  of  Ulster  to  the  frontier  of  the  Ormond 
palatinate.  In  September,  Gray  wrote  to  Henry 
that  Brian  O'Conor  was  a  fugitive,  "going 
from  one  to  another  of  his  old  friends  to  have 
meat  and  drink,  more  like  a  beggar  than  he  that 
was  ever  the  captain  or  ruler  of  a  country." 
His  brother  Cahir  held  Offaly  for  the  crown,  and 
was  so  hated  by  his  countrymen  that  the  Council 
thought  themselves  assured  of  his  fidelity.^ 

^  Gray  and  Brabazon  to  Cromwell,  June  ii.  Thomas 
Alen  to  Cromwell,  June  12.  {Carew  MSS.)  Council  to 
Cromwell,  Jvme  26. 

^  Council  to  Cromwell,  June  26.  Deputy  and  Council  to 
Cromwell,  August  12.  Gray  to  Cromwell,  September  19, 
1 537'  See  also  a  letter  of  August  16,  printed  in  State  Papers, 
III,  144,  where  it  is  wrongly  dated  1539. 

i88 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

Again  Gray  believed  that  he  had  conquered 
Ireland.  Again  he  was  doomed  to  disappoint- 
ment. At  the  beginning  of  October  the 
banished  chieftain  re-entered  Offaly  with  a 
strong  body  of  horsemen,  kerne  and  gallow- 
glasses;  the  clan  declared  in  his  favour,  and 
Cahir,  finding  that  the  Lord  Deputy  lacked  the 
will  or  the  power  to  protect  him,  patched  up  a 
peace  with  his  brother  and  passed  over  to  the 
insurgents.  On  the  nineteenth,  a  fresh  hosting 
was  proclaimed  against  the  O'Conors.  But  the 
rain  fell  heavily ;  the  Barrow  overflowed  its 
banks ;  and  the  expedition  ended  in  disaster. 
Before  the  end  of  December  the  conquests  of 
the  preceding  summer  had  been  completely 
lost.  Soured  and  disappointed  the  Lord 
Deputy  returned  to  Dublin,  where  he  was  at 
once  exposed  to  new  dangers,  calumnies  and 
humiliations.^ 

The  war  had  now  lasted  more  than  three 
years,  and  each  campaign  had  been  more  costly 
than  that  which  preceded  it.  In  the  summer 
of  1537  Henry,  dissatisfied  with  an  expenditure 
which  had  produced  no  adequate  return,  and 
bewildered  by  the  conflicting  reports  which 
reached  him  from  Ireland,  appointed  a  com- 
mission to  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  country. 
The   commissioners  were  four  in  number :    Sir 

^  The  High  Commissioners  to  Cromwell,  November  15, 
1537.  Brabazon  to  Cromwell,  December  30.  Gray  to 
Cromwell,  December  31. 

189 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

Antony  St.  Leger,  who  three  years  later 
succeeded  Gray  as  Lord  Deputy;  George  Paulet, 
a  brother  of  the  Marquis  of  Winchester;  Thomas 
Moyle  and  WilHam  Berners.  Among  other 
matters  of  less  moment  these  gentlemen  were 
directed  to  "examine  the  offices  and  behaviour 
as  well  of  the  Deputy  as  of  all  other  of  the 
King's  Council"  ;  to  inquire  in  what  places  the 
King's  laws  were  obeyed  ;  to  survey  the  lands, 
as  yet  desolate,  which  had  fallen  to  the  crown 
by  the  Act  of  Attainder,  the  Act  of  Suppression, 
and  the  Act  of  Absentees ;  to  grant  leases  for 
twenty-one  years  to  Englishmen  and  others  of 
the  King's  faithful  subjects  who  would  en- 
courage their  tenants  to  "inhabit  and  manure 
the  same"  ;  to  devise  measures  for  the  abolition 
of  black  rents ;  to  ascertain  the  amount  of  the 
revenue,  and  the  best  means  of  collecting  it ; 
and  to  discharge  as  many  of  the  soldiers  as 
could  be  dismissed  with  safety.^ 

The  commissioners  landed  in  Dublin  on 
September  8th,  and  for  the  next  four  months 
they  were  busily  employed  in  surveying  the 
crown  lands,  hearing  witnesses,  and  listening  to 
proposals  for  reform.  The  survey  was  com- 
pleted by  the  beginning  of  January ;  but  the 
commissioners  remained  in  Ireland  until  April, 

^  Commission  to  Sir  Antony  St.  Leger,  George  Paulet, 
Thomas  Moyle,  and  William  Berners,  "  for  the  regulation  of 
thegovernmentof  Ireland,"  July  31  (MS.  R.O.).  Instructions 
to  the  Commissioners,  July  31,  1537. 

190 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

when  they  sailed  for  England,  taking  with  them 
Alen,  Aylmer,  and  Cowley/ 

With  the  substance  of  their  report  the  reader 
is  already  acquainted.  The  commissioners  re- 
ported that  they  had  travelled  through  Leinster 
and  a  considerable  part  of  Munster,  and  had 
seen  "many  goodly  manors  and  castles,"  be- 
longing to  the  crown,  but  all  "in  ruins  and 
decayed,  and  the  land  about  them  waste." 
Devastation  had  produced  famine ;  prices  had 
risen,  and  the  soldiers,  no  longer  able  to  live 
upon  their  wages,  were  supporting  themselves 
by  plunder.  Many  had  been  discharged  already, 
and  more  would  be  discharged  as  soon  as  there 
was  money  to  pay  them.  Revenue  there  was 
none  as  yet,  and  little  prospect  of  obtaining  any. 
Except  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
Dublin  the  protection  of  the  law  scarcely 
extended  beyond  the  v/alls  of  the  towns.  The 
Anglo-Irish  lords  outside  the  Pale,  excluded  the 
King's  judges  from  their  territories  under  the 
pretext  of  palatine  privileges,  and  used  Brehon 
law  or  the  "Statutes  of  Kilcash."  The  Earl  of 
Desmond  had  condescended  to  negotiate  ;  but 
St.  Leger  had  little  faith  in  his  promises.  Kil- 
kenny, Tipperary  and  Waterford,  the  countries 
of  the  Butlers  and  Powers,  were  in  extreme 
disorder  "for  the  lack  of  ministration  of  justice."^ 

^  Agard  to  Cromwell,  April  4,  1538. 

^  State  Papers^   II,   pp.   510-512,   note.      Presentments    of 
Juries,  October,  1537.   Commissioners  to  Cromwell,  September 

191 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

In  Wexford,  which,  although  united  to  the 
crown,  was  still  governed  as  a  "liberty,"  matters 
were  even  worse,  owing  to  the  misconduct  of 
the  officers  appointed  by  the  Earl  of  Shrews- 
bury/ The  condition  of  the  Pale  itself  was 
little,  if  at  all,  better.  The  frontier  fortresses 
were  either  in  ruins  or  occupied  by  the  enemy ; 
the  "  march "  or  debatable  land  was  growing 
with  alarming  rapidity,  and  the  civil  districts 
were  over-run  with  Irish  spies,  Irish  thieves, 
and  Irish  harpers.  The  lords  marchers,  although 
acknowledging  a  bare  allegiance  to  the  crown, 
disregarded  the  injunctions  of  the  deputy, 
oppressed  their  tenants  with  coyne  and  livery 
and  other  illegal  exactions,  and  made  war  or 
peace  as  suited  their  personal  interests.  English 
farmers,  reduced  to  beggary  by  the  ravages  of 
civil  war  and  the  oppression  of  their  landlords, 

26;  November  15,  1537;  January  2,  1538.  Articles  of 
submission  of  James  Fitzjohn,  claimant  to  the  earldom  of 
Desmond,  October  18,  1537. 

^  "  As  for  William  Saintlowe,  he  keepeth  him  and  his  men 
in  a  corner,  as  a  king,  exempted  from  all  the  King's  laws  and 
obeysaunce,  planting  coyne  and  livery,  extortion  and  oppression, 
such  as  was  never  seen,  and  all  the  country  maketh  exclamation 
of  his  outrages,  and  he  will  not  refrain  or  see  any  redress.  As 
far  as  I  can  perceive,  the  continuance  of  that  liberty  is  more 
like  to  induce  them  to  plain  rebellion  than  to  any  civil  order, 
as  it  is  used." — Cowley  to  Cromwell,  September  8,  1539. 
See  also  Presentment  of  the  Grand  Jury  of  Wexford,  1537. 
Council  to  Cromwell,  January  18,  1539. 

On  June  30,  1537,  the  Sovereign  and  Commons  of  Wex 
ford  wrote  to  Cromwell  thanking  him  for  the  continuance  of 
their  liberties  (MS.  R.O.). 

192 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

were  emigrating  in  large  numbers,  and  English 
gentlemen  found  it  impossible  to  procure  tenants, 
labourers,  and  even  household  servants/ 

For  all  this  Gray  w^as  not  responsible.  Some 
of  the  abuses  of  which  the  commissioners  com- 
plained were  the  inevitable  consequence  of  civil 
war ;  others  had  been  in  existence  long  before 
he  had  set  foot  in  Ireland,  and  his  military 
duties  had  left  him  little  leisure  for  adminis- 
trative reforms.  The  report,  nevertheless, 
tended  still  further  to  discredit  the  unfortunate 
Deputy,  and  gave  a  fresh  handle  to  his  accusers. 

Those  accusers  were  numerous,  persevering 
and  unscrupulous.  In  the  early  days  of  his 
administration  the  Lord  Deputy  and  his  official 
advisers  had  acted  with  apparent  harmony ;  but 
there  had  never  been  much  real  cordiality,  and 
before  Gray  had  been  many  months  in  office 
there  had  been  something  like  an  open  rupture. 
The  breach,  it  is  true,  had  been  followed  by  a 
hollow  and  short-lived  reconciliation  ;  but  the 
torrent  of  invective,  which  had  been  dammed  by 
Gray's  victories,  burst  forth  anew  on  the  first 
indication  of  defeat. 

At  first  the  enemies  of  the  Lord  Deputy  had 
contented  themselves  with  attacking  him  upon 
personal  grounds.  He  was  haughty ;  he  was 
passionate ;  he  would  not  control  his  temper  or 
listen  to  advice;  he  had  treated  individuals  with 

^  See  the  letters  of  Gray,  Alen  and  Luttrell  to  the  Com- 
missioners, September,  1537. 

193  O 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

injustice  and  harshness.  They  did  not  deny  his 
miUtary  talents ;  and  they  breathed,  as  yet,  no 
suspicions  of  his  loyalty.^  About  the  beginning 
of  the  year  1538,  the  general  dissatisfaction 
began  to  shape  itself  into  a  more  serious  and 
definite  charge. 

In  repudiating  the  authority  of  the  Roman 
Pontiff  the  English  nation  had  acted  with  some 
approach  to  unanimity ;  but  the  schism  was  no 
sooner  complete  than  the  reformers  became 
divided  into  two  hostile  factions.  The  Con- 
servative or,  as  we  should  now  call  them,  the 
High  Church  party,  were  anxious,  while  assert- 
ing the  independence  of  the  national  church,  to 
preserve  its  doctrines  unchanged;  their  opponents 
had  adopted,  though  they  did  not  yet  openly 
avow,  the  tenets  of  the  German  reformers.  The 
quarrel  had  extended  to  Ireland,  where  the  ultra- 
Protestants  formed  the  majority  of  the  council, 
while  the  Lord  Deputy  was  completely  identified 
with  the  moderate  party.  Lord  Leonard  Gray 
had  acknowledged  the  royal  supremacy,  and  had 
acquiesced,  with  no  very  good  grace,  in  the 
dissolution  of  the  monasteries.  Beyond  this  he 
was  not  prepared  to  go.  He  had  no  leaning  to 
Lutheranism ;  and  he  regarded  the  iconoclastic 

^  "To  be  plain,  except  my  Lord  Deputy  use  another 
moderation  and  temperance  than  he  hath  done  of  late,  he  shall 
be  more  meet  to  be  ruled  than  to  rule ;  for,  no  doubt,  he  hath 
lost  the  hearts  of  English  and  Irish,  friend  and  foe." — Alen  to 
the  Commissioners. 

194 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

fanaticism  of  Archbishop  Browne  and  his  friends 
with  a  disgust  which  he  took  no  pains  to 
conceal.  The  latter,  on  their  part,  regarded 
Gray  as  the  chief  obstacle  to  their  triumph,  and 
plotted  persistently  to  procure  his  dismissal. 

On  March  28th,  James  White,  a  Wexford 
magistrate  and  a  violent  Protestant,  wrote  to 
Cromwell,  complaining  of  the  Deputy  and  the  1538 
Papists.  But,  continues  this  zealous  reformer, 
"thanks  be  to  God,  the  King's  Majesty  hath 
one  Catholic  city,  and  one  champion,  the  Lord 
Butler,  in  this  land,  that  dare  repugn  against  the 
detestable  abusions  of  so  sundry  sects  as  this 
miserable  land  is  in  a  manner  overflown  withal, 
whose  Pharisaical  ceremonies  and  hypocrisy,  of 
so  long  time  continued  here,  have  not  only 
trained  and  brought  the  people  wholly  from  the 
knowledge  of  God,  but  also  in  an  evil  and 
erroneous  opinion  of  the  King's  most  noble 
Grace,  and  of  all  those  that  under  his  Majesty 
be  the  setters  forth  of  the  true  Word  of  God 
and  repugnators  against  those  abuses."  A  week 
later  Thomas  Agard,  a  more  conspicuous  mem- 
ber of  the  same  party,  followed  in  the  same 
strain.  "Here  is  no  news,  neither  business,  but 
all  after  one  sort ;  the  blood  of  Christ  is  clean 
blotted  out  of  all  men's  hearts,  what  with  that 
monster  the  Bishop  of  Rome  and  his  adherents. 
It  is  hard,  my  good  lord,  for  any  poor  man  to 
speak  against  their  abusions  here  ;  for  except  it 
be  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  which  doth  here 

195 


THE    GERALDINE    ELEAUE 

in  preaching  set  forth  God's  Word,  with  due 
obedience  to  their  prince,  and  my  good  Lord 
Butler,  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  Mr.  Treasurer, 
and  one  or  two  more,  which  are  of  small  repu- 
tations, here  is  else  none,  from  the  highest,  may 
abide  the  hearing  of  it,  spiritual,  as  they  call 
them,  nor  temporal ;  and  in  especial  they  that 
here  rule  all,  that  be  the  temporal  lawyers, 
which  have  the  King's  fee."  On  June  20th, 
James  Butler  wrote  to  Cowley,  who  had  accom- 
panied the  commissioners  to  London :  "  Our 
governor  threatens  every  man  after  such  a 
tyrannous  sort,  as  no  man  dare  speak  or  repugn 
reasonably  against  his  appetite ;  more  than  I  or 
any  other  true  Christian  man  durst  speak  against 
the  Bishop  of  Rome's  usurped  authority  ;  of 
whose  sect  he  is  chief  and  principal  in  this 
land — albeit  there  is  nothing  so  apparent  but  he 
will  deny."  In  July  Cowley  presented  an 
elaborate  memorial  to  Cromwell,  complaining 
that  "the  Papistical  sect  spring  up  and  spread 
abroad,  infecting  the  land  pestiferously  by 
default  of  attolerance  "  :  that,  since  the  passing 
of  the  Supremacy  Act,  five  bishops  had  been 
appointed  to  Irish  sees  by  the  Pope,  besides 
abbots  and  priors ;  that  Roland  Burke  had 
expelled  the  King's  nominee  from  the  diocese 
of  Clonfert ;  and  that  all  this  was  due  to  Gray's 
connivance.  "My  Lord  Deputy,"  wrote  Arch- 
bishop Browne  in  August,  "beareth  still  his 
favours    towards  the    Observants."       "Surely," 

196 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

wrote  Butler  a  few  days  later,  "he  hath  a  special 
zeal  for  the  Papists."^ 

But  Gray's  adversaries  did  not  confine  their 
attacks  to  his  religious  policy.  The  lawyers, 
with  Lord  Chancellor  Alen  at  their  head, 
intrigued  on  principle  against  every  successive 
Deputy  ;  the  Earl  of  Ormond  and  his  son  had 
resolved  to  make  all  government  except  their 
own  impossible,  and  half  the  offices  in  Ireland 
were  filled  with  Ormond's  nominees.  From  the 
first  Gray  had  regarded  this  powerful  nobleman 
with  a  dislike  which  had  rapidly  deepened  into 
hatred.  The  Butlers  were  now,  in  his  opinion, 
more  formidable  than  ever  the  Geraldines  had 
been,  and,  although  the  Lord  Deputy's  judgment 
was,  perhaps,  swayed  in  this  instance  by  his 
passions,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  he  had 
some  ground  for  his  suspicions.^  The  hereditary 
principalities  of  the  house  of  Ormond  exceeded 
in  extent  the  Irish  dominions  of  the  crown. 
After  the  attainder  of  the  Geraldines  the  Earl 
and  his  eldest  son  had  received  enormous  grants 

^  White  to  Cromwell,  March  28,  1538.  Agard  to 
Cromwell,  April  5.  Butler  to  Cowley,  June  20.  Cowley 
to  Cromwell,  July  19.  Browne  to  Cromwell,  August  10. 
Butler  to  Cromwell,  August  26. 

^  As  early  as  February  6,  1537,  Martin  Pelles  wrote  to 
Cromwell,  "The  Butlers  be  of  a  high  courage  and  liveth 
here  like  princes.  Many  fear  that  they  will  be  loth  to 
live  in  subjection  ;  for  all  the  country  prayeth  daily  to  God 
that  the  Butlers,  especially,  may  never  be  their  head  rulers." 
-^Carew  MSS. 

197 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

in  the  Pale/  and  they  had  also  profited  largely 
by  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries.^  The 
Earl's  second  son,  Richard,  afterwards  the  first 
Lord  Mountgarret,  had  recently  acquired  a  con- 
siderable estate  in  Wexford.^  His  daughter. 
Lady  Katherine  Power,  was  absolute  mistress  of 
the  eastern  half  of  Waterford.*  The  possession 
of  Dungarvan  gave  the  Butlers  the  command 
of  the  western  half  of  the  same  county.^ 
Another  daughter  of  the  Earl  was  married  to 
Donough  O'Brien ;  while  a  third  was  the 
wife  of  Brian  McGillapatrick,  prince  of  Upper 
Ossory.^  McGillapatrick  had  lately  enlarged 
his  dominions  at  the  expense  of  his  neighbours, 
the  O'Moores,  and  Donough  had  a  considerable 
following   in   Thomond.      The    pretensions    of 

^  Letters  patent  granting  to  Piers,  Earl  of  Ormond  and 
Ossory,  and  his  son  James,  Lord  Butler,  Treasurer  of  Ireland, 
various  lands.     October  23,  1537  (MS.  R.O.) 

^  Ware,  AntiqultieSy  ch.  38. 

^  Saintlowe  to  Cromwell,  March  17,  1537. — Carew  MSS. 

*  Presentments  of  the  Juries  of  the  County  and  City  of 
Waterford,  October,  1537.  On  February  26,  i545j  St.  Leger 
wrote  to  Wriothesley  enclosing  three  letters  from  Sir  William 
Wyse,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Waterford,  dated  November  i, 
December  2,  1544,  January  5,  1545,  complaining  of  the 
extortions  of  Lady  Katherine  Power. 

^  Devices  for  the  ordering  of  the  Kavanaghs,  O'Byrnes,  and 
O'Tooles,  1537. — Carew  MSS. 

^  Report  to  Cromwell,  1533.  "Item,  they  say  that  the  Earl 
of  Ossory  hath  married  one  of  his  daughters  to  McGillapatrick, 
being  Irish,  and  one  other  his  daughter  to  Donough  O'Brien, 
being  also  Irish."  Presentment  of  the  Jury  of  the  Corporation 
of  Kilkenny,  October  5,  1537. 

198 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

James  Butler,  the  heir  to  the  earldom,  were  still 
more  formidable.  This  nobleman  had  married 
a  daughter  of  James,  eleventh  Earl  of  Desmond. 
Earl  James  died  without  heir  male  in  1529,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  uncle,  Thomas  Moyle. 
In  1537  Butler,  availing  himself  of  the  dissen- 
sions among  the  Munster  Geraldines  and  the 
rebellion  of  the  de  facto  Earl,  advanced  a  claim 
in  right  of  his  wife  to  the  Desmond  inheritance.^ 
The  union  of  two  such  earldoms  would  have 
made  the  Butlers  absolute  masters  of  at  least 
the  southern  half  of  Ireland,  and  Gray 
rightly  determined  to  prevent  such  a  consum- 
mation at  all  hazards.  With  this  object 
he  resolved  to  abandon  the  course  which 
he  had  hitherto  pursued,  and  to  conciliate 
the  enemy  whom  he  had  lately  attempted  to 
destroy. 

Apart  from  his  distrust  of  the  Butlers,  and 
his  dislike  of  the  extreme  Protestants,  the  Lord 
Deputy  had  good  reasons  for  adopting  a  more 
liberal  policy.  If  the  campaign  of  the  preced- 
ing summer  had  not  materially  increased  his 
power,  it  had  at  least  opened  his  eyes  to  the 
real  nature  of  the  Irish  problem.  O'Conor,  it 
was  clear,  was  no  more  daunted  by  the  capture 
of  his  castles  than  O'Brien  had  been  by  the 
destruction  of  his  bridge  ;  and  until  O'Conor 
was  either  subdued  or  reconciled,  there  was  no 

^  St.   Leger  to  Henry,  February   21,   1541.     Cf,  Walter 
Cowley  to  Cromwell,  December  21,  1532. 

199 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

hope  of  permanent  tranquillity  even  in  Leinster. 
In  Munster  O'Brien  and  Desmond  were  still 
unconquered  ;  and  the  capture  of  Athlone  had 
not  been  followed  by  any  considerable  extension 
of  the  royal  authority  in  Connaught. 

From  the  north  a  new  and  terrible  danger 
threatened.  Old  Hugh  O'Donel,  who,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  had  been  "  a  great  stay 
upon  O'Neil,"^  died  in  July,  1537  ;  and  his 
death  was  followed  by  a  revolution  in  Ulster 
politics.  Manus,  the  son  and  successor  of  the 
deceased  chieftain,  had,  during  his  father's 
lifetime,  been  expelled  from  his  hereditary 
dominions  by  a  lady  whom  the  old  lord  "  keeped 
contrary  to  God's  law,  to  the  great  peril  of  his 
soul,"  and  had  taken  refuge  with  Con  O'Neil, 
whose  sister  had  been  his  first  wife.  Deeply 
impressed  by  the  dangers  to  which  the  Irish 
clans  were  exposed  by  their  internal  feuds,  and 
actuated  by  a  profound  distrust  of  the  English 
government,  Manus  had  no  sooner  succeeded 
to  the  chiefship,  than  he  reversed  the  policy  of 
his  predecessor,  and  concluded  a  close  alliance 
with  his  brother-in-law.  For  the  first  time  in 
history  the  two  great  Ulster  families  were 
cordially  united  in  opposition  to  the  English 
government.^ 

^  Cowley  to  Cromwell,  September  8,  1539. 

*  Four  Masters  J  1537-  Ware,  Annals,  1537.  Gray  to 
Cromwell,  September  i,  1537.  Manus  O'Donel  to  Gray, 
August  20,  enclosed  in  the  preceding. 

200 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

In  all  this  the  council  could  see  nothing  but 
a  fresh  incentive  to  severity.  To  Gray,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  was  evident  that  Ireland  could 
no  longer  be  held  by  the  sword,  and  that  a 
lasting  settlement  could  only  be  based  on  the 
conciliation  of  the  native  population.  From 
his  official  advisers  he  could  expect  nothing  but 
the  most  determined  opposition.  He  began 
therefore  to  dispense  with  their  services,  and 
to  look  elsewhere  for  assistance.  An  unofficial 
cabinet,  composed  partly  of  Gray's  personal 
friends,  who  had  accompanied  him  from 
England,  and  partly  of  the  former  adherents 
of  the  Geraldines,  was  formed  ;  and  to  them 
all  business  of  importance  was  thenceforth  sub- 
mitted.^ On  March  6th  a  treaty,  the  first  of 
a  memorable  series,  was  concluded  with  Brian 
O'Conor,  who  undertook  to  be  a  true  and  loyal 
subject  to  the  King  ;  to  renounce  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Roman  Pontiff ;  to  make  no  further 
claim  for  "  black  rents  or  other  exactions,"  but 
to  be  content  with  the  liberality  of  the  Lord 
Deputy  ;  to  pay  an  annual  land-tax  of  three 
shillings  and  fourpence  for  every  plough/and  ; 
to  allow  the  Lord  Deputy  to  make  a  road 
through  his  territory  ;  and  to  give  his  son 
Donough  as  a  hostage.  In  return  for  these 
concessions  he  asked  only  to  be  created  a  baron, 
and  to  be  allowed  to  hold  his  lands  of  the  King, 

^  Ormond   to  Cowley,  June,    1538.     Alen   and  Aylmer's 
Articles  against  Lord  Leonard  Gray,  June,  1538. 

201 


THE    GERALDINE   LEAGUE 

according  to  the  laws  of  England/  A  month 
later  the  Lord  Deputy  celebrated  Easter  at 
Maynooth,  where  O'Conor  was  his  principal 
guest,  and  was  received  with  every  mark  of 
attention.^ 

It  is  easy  to  understand  how  distasteful  these 
proceedings  must  have  been  to  Ormond  and  to 
the  other  enemies  of  the  Geraldine  house.  I 
have  explained  the  arguments  by  which  Gray 
afterwards  defended  his  conduct — arguments 
which,  if  not  convincing,  were  at  least  perfectly 
intelligible.  The  motives  attributed  to  him  by 
his  traducers  were  very  different.  By  his  modera- 
tion in  religious  matters  the  Lord  Deputy  had 
incurred  the  charge  of  Popery  ;  his  opposition 
to  the  Butlers  exposed  him  to  the  suspicion — to 
which  his  relationship  to  the  widowed  Countess 
of  Kildare  gave  a  peculiar  plausibility — of  aiming 
at  the  restoration  of  the  Geraldincs  and  the 
destruction  of  all  who  had  served  the  crown 
during  the  recent  troubles.  In  June  James 
Butler,  who  was  even  more  violent  in  his  hos- 
tility than  his  father,  summed  up  Gray's  character 
in  a  phrase  skilfully  devised  to  arouse  the  jealousy 
of  Henry.  "  My  Lord  Deputy  is  the  Earl  of 
Kildare  newly  born  again,  not  only  in  destroying 

^  Gray  to  Cromwell,  March  n,  1538,  enclosing  (i) 
Manner  and  form  of  the  parliament  between  the  Lord 
Deputy  and  O'Conor,  March  2  ;  (2)  Submission  of  Brian 
O'Conor,  March  6,  1538. 

2  Matthew  King  to  Cromwell,  April  26,  1538. 

202 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

of  those  that  always  have  served  the  King's 
Majesty,  but  also  in  maintaining  the  whole 
sect,  band  and  alliance  of  the  said  Earl,  after 
so  vehement  and  cruel  a  sort  as  the  like  hath 
not  been  seen."  ^ 

It  must  be  admitted  that  Gray's  conduct  gave 
some  colour  to  this  accusation.  But  before 
narrating  his  subsequent  exploits  we  must  trace 
the  movements  of  his  nephew,  who  about  this 
time  became  the  rallying-point  of  a  formidable 
confederacy.  We  left  young  Gerald  in  Thomond, 
where  he  was  joined  by  James  Delahide,  Father 
Walsh  and  other  partisans  of  his  house.  O'Brien, 
as  we  have  seen,  refused  to  surrender  the  boy  at 
the  dictation  of  the  deputy  ;  but  a  little  later, 
either  doubting  his  ability  to  protect  him,  or 
not  wishing  to  be  embarrassed  in  any  subsequent 
negotiation  with  the  government,  sent  him  across 
the  Shannon  to  Desmond,  by  whom  he  was 
placed  under  the  care  of  his  aunt,  Lady  Eleanor 
MacCarthy,  widow  of  the  late  and  mother  of  the 
reigning  chief  of  Carbery.^  Lady  Eleanor,  a 
woman  of  remarkable  courage,  energy  and  deter- 
mination, had  learnt  with  grief  and  horror  of  the 
execution  of  her  kinsmen,  and  had  resolved  to 
leave  no  stone  unturned  to  avenge  it.  To 
unite  all  the  great  families  of  Ireland  in  a  con- 
spiracy against  the  government  was  thenceforth 

^  Butler  to  Cowley,  June  20,  1538. 

^  Stanihurst,  p.  305.     Cromwell  to  St.  Leger,  August  12, 

1537- 

203 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

her  one  object.  The  accession  of  Manus 
O'Donel  and  his  reconciUation  with  O'Neil 
afforded  her  the  opportunity  for  which  she  had 
been  waiting.  O'Donel  was  a  widower,  and 
was  anxious  to  strengthen  himself  by  an  alliance 
with  the  Geraldines.  In  the  winter  of  1537  he 
intimated  to  Desmond  that  he  was  a  suitor  for 
the  hand  of  Lady  Eleanor.  Lady  Eleanor  con- 
sented, in  the  hope  of  securing  an  asylum  tor 
her  nephew.  The  negotiations  were  completed 
in  March  ;  in  April  Lady  Eleanor  and  Gerald, 
accompanied  by  Delahide,  Walsh  and  Leverous, 
set  out  on  their  long  and  perilous  journey  from 
Cork  to  Donegal.  With  such  secrecy  was  the 
whole  business  transacted  that  the  fugitives  had 
reached  Ulster,  and  the  marriage  had  actually 
taken  place  before  any  hint  of  their  intention 
reached  Dublin.  It  was  only  on  June  5th  that 
Sir  William  Brabazon  informed  Alen  and  Aylmer, 
who  were  then  in  London,  that  Lady  Eleanor 
had  gone  to  be  married  to  O'Donel,  and  had 
been  accompanied  by  young  Gerald,  Delahide 
and  others,  "  which  I  like  not.  I  was  never  in 
despair  of  Ireland  until  now."  On  the  same 
day  Luttrell  repeated  the  news,  adding  that 
their  trust  was  "  by  the  aid  of  the  north  and 
of  Scotland  to  make  war."  Three  weeks  later 
the  Earl  of  Ormond  was  able  to  send  some  addi- 
tional particulars.  Lady  Eleanor  and  Gerald 
had  been  escorted  by  MacCarthy  Reagh  to  the 
Earl  of  Desmond,  at  whose  castle  the  messengers 

204 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

from  Ulster  had  joined  them.  Accompanied  by 
the  messengers  they  had  then  crossed  over  to 
Thomond,  where  the  whole  party  had  been 
entertained  by  O'Brien.  By  O'Brien  they  had 
been  conducted  to  MacWilliam  of  Clanricarde, 
by  MacWilliam  of  Clanricarde  to  MacWilliam 
of  Mayo,  and  thence  through  the  Irish  countries 
of  Lower  Connaught  to  O'Donel's  residence  in 
Donegal.  There  they  had  been  joined  by 
O'Neil,  who  was  Gerald's  kinsman  ;  and 
there  "  by  the  procurement  of  the  said  Eleanor," 
O'Donel  and  O'Neil  had  taken  a  solemn  oath 
"  to  take  one  part  with  the  said  Gerald  against 
the  Englishry  ;  and  had  found  sureties,  other- 
wise called  slanteghe,  the  one  of  them  upon  the 
other,  according  their  old  use  and  custom, 
for  the  due  performance  of  the  same."  The 
earl  had  derived  his  information  in  the  first 
instance  from  Teig  MacCormac,  Lady  Eleanor's 
son-in-law  ;  and  the  story  had  been  in  part 
confirmed  by  one  Ee  McCragh,  a  "  rymor  '* 
and  a  native  of  Tipperary,  who  had  met  the 
travellers  near  Sligo.  Ormond  believed  that 
the  marriage  had  been  "  practised  and  devised 
by  James  of  Desmond,  O'Brien,  and  other  Irish- 
men of  Munster  of  the  Geraldine  sect";  and  that 
a  rebellion  was  brewing  in  which  Fergananym 
O'Carroll  would  be  one  of  the  chief  actors.^ 

^  Brabazon  to  Alen  and  Aylmer,  June  5,  1538.  Luttrell 
to  Aylmer,  June  5,  1538.  Ormond  to  the  Council,  June  25^ 
1538. 

205 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  in  the 
north  the  English  Pale  was  in  a  state  of  more 
than  normal  confusion.  Even  when  the  deputy 
and  the  great  chiefs  were  at  peace  hostilities 
were  constantly  taking  place  between  the 
English  and  Irish  marchers.  In  the  spring  of 
1538  the  results  of  this  border  warfare  were 
particularly  unfavourable  to  the  Englishry. 
The  MacMahons  burned  and  spoiled  Uriel ; 
the  O'Reillys  threatened  Meath,  and  Captain 
Kelway,  a  brave  and  active,  but  by  no  means 
discreet  officer,  who  was  stationed  in  the  Dublin 
marches,  was  killed  in  a  foolish  and  unprovoked 
attack  on  the  O'Tooles.^  These  reverses  were 
particularly  irritating  to  Gray ;  for,  whatever 
course  he  might  adopt,  he  was  certain  to  afford 
a  fruitful  theme  for  invective.  If  he  remained 
inactive  it  was  said  that  he  allowed  the  Irish 
enemy  to  oppress  the  King's  subjects ;  if  he 
took  the  field  he  was  accused  of  "raising  need- 
less wars"  and  making  "  skurrs  about  light 
matters."  On  the  whole  the  Lord  Deputy 
thought  it  best  to  leave  the  borderers  to  their 
own  devices,  and  to  carry  out  his  policy  or 
conciliation  notwithstanding.'' 

^Council  to  Cromwell,  June  10,  1538.  Kelway  "found 
two  of  Turlough  O'Toole's  servants  in  the  English  borders, 
eating  of  meat,  and  for  the  same  did  immediately  hang  them." 
He  appears  to  have  assumed,  without  any  sort  of  evidence,  that 
the  meat  was  stolen.  The  O'Tooles,  in  revenge,  "  cruelly 
murdered  Kelway  and  seven  of  his  servants." 

^  Aylmer  and  Alen  to  St.  Leger,  June  27,  1538. 

206 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

On  June  17th  he  left  Dublin,  accompanied 
by  O'Conor,  telling  the  Council  that  he  intended 
to  negotiate  with  Desmond,  who  had  agreed  to 
meet  him  in  O'Carroll's  country.  On  that 
night  he  lodged  with  O'Conor  at  Monasteroris, 
"  where  he  had  sumptuous  cheer  and  was 
lovingly  entertained."  On  the  nineteenth,  he 
entered  Ely  O'Carroll,  recognized  Fergananym, 
Kildare's  son-in-law,  as  chief  of  the  clan,  and 
restored  to  him  the  castles  of  Birr  and  Modreny 
"  out  of  the  hands  of  others  of  the  O'Carrolls, 
which  would  not  be  ordered."  From  Ely  he 
marched  through  Ormond,  Arra  and  Owney, 
the  territories  of  the  O'Kennedies,  O'Briens, 
and  O'Mulryans.  All  these  chiefs  submitted, 
agreed  to  pay  tribute,  and  gave  hostages  for 
their  future  loyalty.  James  of  Desmond,  Ulick, 
afterwards  first  Earl  of  Clanricarde,  and  Theobald, 
chief  of  the  Burkes  of  Castleconnell,  "  came  in" 
a  few  days  later.  With  Desmond,  Gray  is  said 
to  have  had  a  private  interview ;  but  what 
passed  between  them  never  transpired.  On 
the  twenty-eighth,  the  Lord  Deputy  entered 
Limerick,  where  he  remained  for  a  week,  during 
which  time  the  bishop,  the  mayor,  and  all  the 
principal  citizens  took  the  oath  of  supremacy. 
Crossing  the  Shannon  at  Limerick  Gray  next 
marched  into  Thomond,  and  here  fortune  played 
into  his  hands.  The  O'Briens,  like  so  many 
Irish  families,  had  quarrelled  violently  among 
themselves,  and  Conor,  the   chief  of  the  clan, 

207 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

now  offered  his  services  in  destroying  the 
bridge  which  he  had  defended  only  two 
years  before.  The  bridge  was  the  property 
of  his  brother  Morough,  and  Morough  was 
suspected  of  designs  on  the  succession.  Gray 
gladly  availed  himself  of  this  offer,  and  on 
July  4th  the  bridge  was  "  broken "  for  the 
second  time.  Having,  with  the  aid  of  O'Brien 
and  Desmond,  reduced  Morough  to  obedi- 
ence, Gray  then  passed  into  Clanricarde, 
where  he  captured  the  castle  of  Bally  Clare, 
belonging  to  Richard  Oge  Burke,  "  who  did 
much  hurt  to  the  town  of  Galway,"  and 
delivered  it  to  his  nephew  Ulick,  "  lately  made 
chief  captain  of  that  country,  and  a  great 
friend  to  the  town  of  Galway."  From  Clan- 
ricarde he  proceeded  to  Galway,  where  he 
was  "  well  received  by  the  mayor  and  his 
brethren,"  with  whom,  and  with  the  bishop, 
he  "  took  like  order  as  at  Limerick."  At 
Galway  he  remained  for  seven  days,  during 
which  O'Flaherty,  O'Madden,  and  McYoris, 
three  dangerous  chieftains,  "came  in"  and  gave 
hostages.  On  the  nineteenth  he  returned  to 
Clanricarde,  where  he  captured  two  more  castles 
from  Richard  Oge,  and  thence  to  Roscommon, 
where  he  received  the  submission  of  O 'Conor 
Roe.  Re-crossing  the  Shannon  at  Athlone 
the  Lord  Deputy  returned  to  the  Pale 
through  Westmeath,  taking  hostages  from 
O'Melaghlin,    McGeoghegan   and    McCoghlan 

208 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

as   he    passed.       On   July    25th    he    was    once 
more  at  Maynooth.^ 

The  Lord  Deputy  himself  was  well  pleased 
with  the  results  of  his  journey.  The  Irish  chiefs 
had  shown  themselves  eminently  reasonable,  and 
Gray  believed  that  he  had  not  only  broken  up  a 
formidable  confederacy  but  erected  an  insur- 
mountable barrier  against  the  ambition  of  the 
house  of  Ormond.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  he  was  at  this  time  aware  of  his  nephew's 
movements,  or  of  the  intrigues  of  Lady  Eleanor. 
Had  he  been  so  it  is  probable  that  he  would 
have  seen  in  them  only  an  additional  reason  for 
conciliating  "the  Geraldine  band";  for  his 
object  was  to  get  possession  of  Gerald,  and  he 
could  no  longer  hope  to  capture  him  by  force. 

His  adversaries,  meanwhile,  took  care  to 
represent  his  conduct  in  a  very  different  light. 
Before  he  left  Dublin  Gray  had  been  accused 
of  Geraldine  sympathies  ;  the  charge  was  now 
repeated  with  redoubled  vehemence.  The  whole 
of  his  late  proceedings   had  been   designed,   it 

^  Stephen  Parry  to  Cromwell,  June  29  and  July  14,  1538 
(MS.  R.O.)  Gray  to  Henry  VIII,  July  26.  Brabazon,  Men 
and  Aylmer  to  Cromwell,  August  24.  Confession  of  the 
Viscount  Gormanstown,  John  Darcy  and  William  Bermingham, 
concerning  the  Lord  Deputy's  proceedings  in  Munster  and 
Connaught,  enclosed  in  the  preceding  (MS.  R.O.)  A  com- 
parison of  this  document  with  subsequent  depositions  of  the 
same  three  gentlemen,  taken  before  Sir  Antony  St.  Leger  in 
October,  1540  {Carew  MSS.)y  shows  that  the  story  has  grown 
considerably  in  the  interim. 

209  P 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

was  said,  "  to  subdue  the  King's  true  subjects, 
to  erect  and  extol  the  Geraldine  sect,  and  to 
attolerate  the  Papists."^  The  journey  to 
Munster  had  been  an  act  either  of  insane 
rashness  or  of  deliberate  treachery.  Without 
consulting  the  Council,  without  even  informing 
them  of  his  intention,  the  Lord  Deputy  had 
placed  himself  in  the  hands  of  "  the  King's 
enemies";  and  if  the  latter  had  not  used  the 
opportunity  to  destroy  him  it  could  only  be 
because  they  believed  that  he  was  at  heart  their 
friend.^  And  indeed  he  had  given  them  good 
reason  to  believe  it.  Gerald  MacGerald,  "  who 
was  no  small  doer  in  all  the  rebellion  of  Thomas 
Fitzgerald,"  had  been  appointed  marshal  of  the 
army.^  Thomas  Albanagh,  another  "  arrant 
traitor,"  had  been  employed  to  negotiate  with 
O'Conor."*  O'Conor  himself,  "  the  only  scourge 
of  the  English  Pale,"  had  been  received  into 
favour,  and  was  now  Gray's  "  right  hand."  ^ 
In  Tipperary  the  Lord  Deputy  had  restored  to 
Fergananym  O 'Carroll  the  frontier  fortresses 
which   Ormond   had  wrested  from  his   father.^ 

^  Cowley  to  Cromwell,  July  19,  1538. 

^  Brabazon,  Alen,  and  Aylmer  to  Cromwell,   August  22, 

1538. 

^  Walter  Cowley  to  Cromwell,  May,  1538. 

^  Ormond  to  Robert  Cowley,  June,  1538. 

^  Butler  to  Robert  Cowley,  June  20,  1538. 

^  "  Item,  the  said  Lord  Deputy,  in  his  said  journey,  hath 
expulsed  and  put  out  the  said  Earl's  tenants  out  of  the  castle  of 
Moderheryn  (Modreny),  and  hath  delivered  the  same  to  the 

210 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

At  Limerick  he  had  recognized  the  "  pretended  " 
Earl  of  Desmond,  and  had  set  aside  the  claims 
of  James  FitzMaurice,  whom  the  Council 
affected  to  regard  as  the  legitimate  heir.^  In 
Thomond  he  had  supported  Connor  O'Brien 
against  his  son  Donough,  who  had  served  the 
crown  during  the  rebellion.^  In  Clanrickard 
he  had  deposed  Richard  Burke  from  the  chief- 
ship   in   favour  of  his  nephew  Ulick,  "  which 

said  Fergananym,  now  being  O'Carroll." — Complaints  of  the 
Earl  of  Ormond,  August  22.  See  also  a  letter  of  the  Council 
to  Cromwell,  June  10,  1538. 

^  "  My  Lord  Deputy  hath  so  strengthened  this  James  of 
Desmond  that  all  the  captains  of  Munster,  in  eflFect,  are  of  his 
band,  and  is  of  greater  strength  by  means  of  my  said  Lord 
Deputy  than  any  Earl  of  Desmond  that  has  been  these  many 
years;  so  that  this  young  man,  that  is  with  the  King's  Majesty 
in  England,  is  never  like  to  come  by  his  inheritance." — Ormond 
to  R.  Cowley,  July  20,  1538.  In  November  the  Council 
complained  that  the  "pretended"  Earl  of  Desmond  had 
acquired  such  strength  since  Gray's  last  journey  into  Munster 
"  as  no  Earl  of  Desmond  had  there  in  no  man's  remembrance," 
and  recommended  that  James  FitzMaurice,  "which,  as  far  as 
we  hitherto  can  perceive,  is  the  very  right  heir,"  should  be 
sent  over  to  oppose  him,  "  whereby  the  combination  and 
power  of  the  other  may  be  abated  and  diminished." — Council 
to  Cromwell,  November  28,  1538. 

^  "  My  Lord  Deputy  and  James  of  Desmond  faithfully 
promised  Donough  O'Brien,  my  son-in-law,  before  they  went 
with  O'Brien,  to  burn  Murrough's  country,  that  they  would 
do  the  said  Donough  no  manner  hurt  ne  invasion ;  and  yet, 
this  notwithstanding,  the  said  James  of  Desmond  did  none 
other  hurt,  as  long  as  they  were  in  Murrough  his  country,  but 
burned  and  destroyed  the  said  Donough's  lands,  and  (he)  could 
have  no  remedy  for  the  same  of  my  Lord  Deputy." — Ormond 
to  R.  Cowley,  July  20,  1538. 

21  I 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

Ulick  is  of  the  Geraldine  band."^  In  Ros- 
common he  had  shown  particular  favour  to 
O'Conor  Roe,  who  had  been  Lady  Eleanor's 
guide  on  her  journey  through  Connaught  to 
Donegal.^  In  other  parts  of  the  island  he  had 
acted  in  a  similar  spirit.  The  outrages  of 
the  borderers  had  been  left  unpunished.  The 
chiefs  whom  Skeffington  had  induced  to  make 
war  upon  O'Neil  had  been  alienated  by 
arbitrary  and  impohtic  handling.^  Cahir  MacArt 
Kavanagh,  captain  of  the  MacMurroughs,  and 
Tybalt  FitzPiers,  a  bastard  Geraldine,  two  notable 
malefactors,  had  been  released  or  suffered  to 
escape  from  the  prison  at  Dublin,  and  had 
since  done  much  harm  to  the  Pale,*     The  Lord 

^  "  My  Lord  Deputy,  now  being  in  Connaught,  hath  put 
down  MacWilliam,  which  was  captain  of  the  country  at  his 
coming,  and  hath  made  one  UHck  de  Burgh  captain.  Which 
Ulick  is  of  the  Geraldine  band." — Brabazon,  Aylmer,  and 
Alen  to  Cromwell,  July  24,  1538. 

^  Confession  of  Lord  Gormanstown  and  others,  August, 
1538  (MS.  R.O.). 

^  "  Item,  whereas  Sir  William  Skeffington,  late  Deputy, 
with  politic  handling,  allured  from  O'Neil  all  his  strength,  as 
O'Reilly,  McMahon,  Nele  More,  Nele  Conelagh,  Maguire 
and  many  others,  who  professed  them  to  refuse  O'Neil  and  to 
serve  the  King's  Highness  ;  after  which  Sir  William's  death 
the  now  Deputy  maligned  against  all  those  that  the  said  Sir 
William  brought  to  the  King's  service,  despising  them.  By 
means  whereof  all  the  said  captains,  so  won  to  serve  the  King, 
be  lost ;  and  O'Neil  being  a  Geraldine,  hath  re-adopted  them 
and  many  more  to  his  band,  by  the  said  negligence,  so  that 
he  is  now  more  stronger  than  ever  he  was." — Ormond  to  R. 
Cowley,  June,  1538. 

*  "  Item,  whereas  Cahir  MacArt  Kavanagh,  being  captain  of 

212 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

Deputy  had  sustained  "  the  late  O'Moore's 
sons,"^  and  had  "  procured  "  the  Kavanaghs  to 
lay  siege  to  Richard  Butler's  castles  in  Wexford.^ 
"  By  comfort  of  him  "  O'Neil  levied  again  black 
rent  in  Meath  and  Uriel,  MacMurrough  in  Kil- 
kenny and  Wexford,  and  Fergananym  O'Carroll 
in  Tipperary.^  Above  all,  young  Gerald,  Lady 
Eleanor,  and  the  "  rabble  of  traitors  "  who 
accompanied  them,  had  been  permitted  to  pass 
uninjured   from   one  end   of  the   island  to  the 

the  Kavanaghs,  and  a  mortal  enemy  to  the  King,  daily 
executing  murders  and  robberies  against  the  King's  subjects, 
was  taken  prisoner  by  William  St.  Loe,  and  by  him  delivered 
to  the  Lord  Deputy,  the  same  Lord  Deputy  let  him  escape  ; 
so  as,  besides  his  former  hurts,  the  same  Cahir  hath  done,  since 
his  departure,  above  two  thousand  marks  of  hurts  to  the  King's 
subjects.  Semblably,  Tybalt  FitzPiers,  one  of  the  bastard 
Geraldines,  a  great  malefactor,  being  taken  by  the  Lord  of 
Kilcullen  and  put  into  the  castle  of  Dublin,  my  Lord  Deputy 
did  take  him  out  of  the  said  castle  ;  who  after,  by  his  negli- 
gence, escaped  and,  since  he  went  at  large,  hath  done  worth 
;^i,ooo  of  hurts  to  the  King's  poor  subjects." — Aylmer  and 
Alen's  Articles  against  Lord  Leonard  Gray,  1538. 

^  Connell  O'Moore  died  in  1537,  and  his  death  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  usual  dispute  between  the  heir  and  the  tanist. — 
Complaints  of  O'Moore,  June,  1537  (MS.  R.O.).  "There 
is  great  dissension  and  war  between  O'Moore  and  the  late 
O'Moore's  sons,  with  which  O'Moore  the  Earl  of  Ormond 
taketh  part,  and  the  Lord  Deputy  with  O'Moore  his  sons. 
Whereupon  hath  grown  great  displeasure  between  the  Lord 
Deputy  and  the  said  Earl." — Council  to  Cromwell,  June 
10,  1538. 

^  "  My  Lord  Deputy  hath  procured  part  of  the  Kavanaghs 
to  lay  siege  to  the  castle  of  Ferns." — Ormond  to  R.  and  W. 
Cowley,  July  16,  1538. 

2  Butler  to  R.  Cowley,  June  20,  1538. 

213 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

other,  and  to  become  the  leaders  of  the  most 
dangerous  conspiracy  which  had  threatened  the 
government  since  the  time  of  Strongbow.^ 

The  home  government,  disgusted  by  the 
prolongation  of  the  w^ar  and  the  escape  of 
FitzGerald,  lent  a  ready  ear  to  these  calumnies. 
The  King  had  lost  confidence  in  Gray  ;  and 
Cromwell  had  his  own  reasons  for  regarding  the 
Lord  Deputy  with  aversion.  Among  the  com- 
missioners who  had  accompanied  St.  Leger  to 
Ireland  in  the  preceding  summer  was  George 
Paulet,  a  brother  of  Lord  Winchester,  and  a 
prominent  member  of  the  faction  which  opposed 
the  Lord  Privy  Seal.  Paulet,  a  hot-headed 
indiscreet  man,  had  spoken  to  Gray  with 
injudicious  candour  of  Cromwell's  rapacity, 
and  had  hinted  that  his  power  was  tottering. 
Gray  had  wisely  kept  this  communication  to 
himself;  and  if  the  matter  had  stopped  there 
all  might  have  been  well.  But  Paulet,  unhappily, 
had  repeated  his  remarks  to  Alen  ;  and  Alen, 
who  seldom  lost  an  opportunity  of  making 
mischief,  had  informed  Cromwell  that  Gray 
and  Paulet  were  conspiring  against  him.  He 
had  thus  inflamed  Cromwell's  jealousy  to  the 
uttermost,  and  had  still  further  shaken  the  credit 
of  the  Deputy.^ 

^  State  Papers^  III,  pp.  28,  39,  44,  52,  57,  78,  et  a/lhi. 

2  Alen  to  Cromwell,  March  9,  1538.  Interrogatories  re- 
lative to  scandalous  words  spoken  by  Mr.  George  Paulet 
respecting  the  Lord  Privy  Seal,  March  9. — Answers  of  John 

214 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

Gray,  nevertheless,  was  not  at  once  removed 
from  office.  His  military  abilities  were  acknow- 
ledged even  by  his  enemies  ;  and  until  some 
more  decisive  success  had  been  gained,  military 
ability  was  the  one  indispensable  qualification 
for  an  Irish  governor.  The  King,  moreover, 
still  cherished  a  hope  that  young  Gerald  might 
be  induced  to  "come  in  ";  and  it  was  obvious 
that  he  would  be  more  likely  to  come  in  to  his 
uncle  than  to  a  stranger.  Instead,  therefore,  of 
siding  definitely  with  either  party,  his  Majesty 
addressed  an  impartial  rebuke  to  Gray  and 
Ormond,  and  ordered  the  Council  to  effect  a 
reconciliation  between  them.^ 

In  August  a  formal  reconciliation  took  place  ; 
but  it  was  probably  insincere,  and  Brabazon  was 
undoubtedly  right  when  he  assured  Henry  that 
it  could  not  be  lasting.'  The  Earl  and  the 
Deputy  continued  to  regard  each  other  with  a 
hatred  all  the  more  intense  because  they  were 
obliged  to  disguise  it ;  and  the  Council,  although 
forced  to  abate  something  of  their  violence,  did 

Alen,   Master  of  the   Rolls,   Chief  Justice  Aylmer  and  Mr. 
William  Berners  to  the  same. 

^  Brabazon,  Aylmer  and  Alen  to  Cromwell,  August  22, 
1538,  enclosing  (i)  Order  of  the  Council  for  reconciling  Gray 
and  Ormond  :  (2)  Articles  of  accusation  by  Gray  against 
Ormond  :  (3)  Articles  of  accusation  by  Ormond  against 
Gray. 

^  "  But  we  must  be  plain  to  your  lordship  that,  as  far  as  we 
can  perceive,  this  agreement  will  not  long  endure  between  my 
Lord  Deputy  and  them  (the  Butlers). — Brabazon,  Aylmer 
and  Alen  to  Cromwell,  August  22. 

215 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

not   cease   to  pursue  the  latter   with  malicious 
innuendoes. 

Lady  Eleanor  meanwhile  had  not  been  idle. 
A  few  weeks  after  O'Donel's  marriage  another 
turbulent  chieftain  sacrificed  a  private  feud  on 
the  altar  of  the  national  unity.  Before  the 
Norman  invasion  the  O'Conors  had  been  kings 
of  Connaught,  and  had  given  more  than  one 
"  High  King  "  to  all  Ireland.  For  more  than 
a  century  after  that  invasion  the  clan  had  main- 
tained their  supremacy  in  Connaught,  where 
they  had  offered  a  stubborn  and  often  successful 
resistance  to  the  invaders.  After  the  battle  of 
Athenry,  in  which  they  were  defeated  by  the 
De  Burghs,  their  power  began  to  decline.  The 
clan  became  divided  into  a  number  of  inde- 
pendent branches.  O'Conor  Don  was  constantly 
at  war  with  O'Conor  Roe,  and  both  with 
O'Conor  Sligo.  The  Burkes  obtained  possession 
of  a  considerable  part  of  Connaught.  The 
O'Donels  encroached  upon  their  northern 
border  ;  and  the  MacDermotts,  O'Kellys  and 
other  septs  formerly  dependent  on  the  O'Conors 
threw  off  the  yoke  and  attained  to  something 
like  independence.  In  1537,  however,  Teig 
MacKahill,  chief  of  the  O'Conors  of  Sligo, 
was  recognized  by  the  rival  chieftains  as  head 
of  the  entire  clan.  Between  this  sept  and  the 
O'Donels  a  feud,  scarcely  less  inveterate  than 
that  between  the  O'Donels  and  the  O'Neils,  had 
long  raged  for  the  possession  of  the  debatable 

216 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

land  between  Donegal  and  Sligo.  By  the 
intervention  of  Lady  Eleanor  a  reconciliation 
was  now  effected  ;  the  disputed  territory  was 
partitioned  between  the  rival  claimants  ;  and 
the  castle  of  Sligo,  which  O'Donel  had  lately 
captured,  was  restored  to  O 'Conor  in  considera- 
tion of  an  annual  rent.^ 

The  autumn  passed  quietly.  In  October  the 
Council  assured  Henrv  that  the  condition  of 
the  country  was  improving.  The  law  was 
regularly  and  peacefully  administered  ;  the 
Lord  Deputy,  alarmed  by  a  report  that  he  was 
to  be  recalled,  was  exerting  himself  to  "  redub 
things  past  ";  and  the  attitude  of  the  "  Irish 
enemies  "  was  unusually  pacific.^ 

But  to  shrewd  observers  there  appeared  to  be 
something  ominous  in  this  unwonted  tranquillity. 
During  the  winter  messengers  were  constantly 
passing  between  Desmond  and  the  northern 
Irish,  and  between  the  latter  and  the  court  of  1539 
Scotland  ;  and  in  the  spring  of  1539  the  posi- 
tion of  the  government  was  extremely  critical. 
O'Neil,  O'Donel  and  O'Conor  were  absolute 
masters  of  the  north  of  Ireland.  The  lesser 
chiefs — O'Neil  of  Clandeboye,  O'Cahan  and 
Maguire  in  Ulster,  O'Rourke  and  MacDermot 
in     Lower    Connaught,    and    MacCoghlan    of 

^  Ormond  to  Cowley,  July  20,  1538.  Cowley  to  Cromwell, 
Augusts,  1538. 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry  VIII,  October  8. 
Thomas  Alen  to  Cromwell,  October  20,  1538. 

217 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

Westmeath  —  now  followed  the  lead  of  their 
more  powerful  neighbours ;  while  Desmond  had 
organized  a  scarcely  less  formidable  confederacy 
in  the  south  and  west.  Ulster,  Connaught  and 
Munster  were  thus  united  against  the  crown  ; 
and  there  could  be  little  doubt  that,  if  an 
opportunity  presented  itself,  the  Leinster  Irish 
would  follow  the  example  of  the  other  provinces. 
Worst  of  all,  the  Pale  was  wavering  in  its 
allegiance.  The  lords  and  gentlemen  of  the 
four  shires  were,  with  few  exceptions,  connected 
by  blood  or  marriage  with  the  house  of  Kildare  ; 
and  though  they  had  at  first  discountenanced  their 
kinsmen's  rebellion,  they  were  not  insensible  to 
their  misfortunes.  They  were,  besides.  Catholics 
almost  to  a  man  :  Romanism,  which  with  the 
Irishry  was  a  mere  name,  was  with  the  Englishry 
a  genuine  passion  ;  and  the  fanaticism  of  the 
ultra  Protestants  was  rapidly  obliterating  the 
distinction  between  the  two  races.^ 

^  "  I  suspect  much  our  own  country,  what  for  the  affection 
part  of  them  bear  to  the  Geraldines,  and  the  favour  that  many 
hath  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  his  laws  and  errors,  that  they 
will  either  turn  against  us,  or  otherwise  stand  us  in  small  stead; 
much  the  rather,!  doubt  nothing,  by  the  enticement  of  our  friars, 
obstinates,  and  other  our  religious  persons." — Alen  to  Cromwell, 
July  10,  1539.  "The  cause  of  this  traitorous,  conspired 
treason,  as  the  traitors  do  plainly  declare,  is  that  the  King's 
Highness  is  an  heretic  against  the  faith,  because  he  obeyeth 
not  and  believeth  not  the  Bishop  of  Rome's  usurped  primacy.  .  . 
I  assure  your  Lordship  that  this  English  Pale,  except  the  towns 
and  very  few  of  the  possessioners,  be  so  affectionate  to  the 
Geraldines,  that  for  kindred,  marriage,  fostering,  and  adhering 

218 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

Until  the  middle  of  April  the  government, 
although  they  believed  that  a  formidable  con- 
spiracy was  on  foot,  seem  to  have  obtained  no 
definite  information.  On  the  seventeenth  of 
that  month  Conor  Mor  O'Conor,  a  servant  of 
the  young  Earl  of  Kildare,  wa.s  arrested  near 
Dublin  and  made  some  startling  disclosures. 
The  prisoner  deposed  that  he  had  formerly  been 
in  the  service  of  Lord  Leonard  Gray,  by  whom 
he  had  been  sent  to  Kildare  two  years  pre- 
viously. At  the  time  of  his  arrest  he  was 
charged  with  letters  from  the  latter  to  the 
O'Tooles,  begging  them  to  assist  him  in  the 
approaching  campaign.  The  O'Tooles  had 
answered  that  they  would  "aid  him  with  all  the 
power  they  might,"  and  that  the  O'Byrnes  and 
the  Kavanaghs  would  "  do  the  like.*'  In 
return  for  their  assistance  Gerald  had  promised 
to  give  them  Powerscourt  and  Fassaghroe. 
O'Neil,  O'Donel  and  Desmond  were  in  con- 
stant communication,  and  many  other  chiefs 
had  joined  the  confederacy.  MacCarthy  Mor 
and  O'SuUivan  had  agreed  to  join  O'Donel  by 
sea.  Roderick  O'Donel,  Bishop  of  Derry,  and 
Connaught   O'Shiel,  Abbot   of  Ballysadare,  had 

as  followers,  they  covet  more  to  see  a  Geraldine  to  reign  and 
triumph  than  to  see  God  come  among  them  ;  and  if  they  might 
see  this  young  Gerald's  banner  displayed,  if  they  should  lose 
half  their  substance,  they  would  rejoice  more  at  the  same 
than  otherwise  to  gain  great  goods." — Cowley  to  Cromwell. 
September  8,  1539. 

219 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

been  sent  about  the  middle  of  Lent  to  seek 
assistance  from  the  court  of  Scotland,  and  the 
Dean  of  Derry  on  a  similar  errand  to  the  Lord 
of  the  Isles.  In  addition  to  their  hereditary- 
followers  the  Ulster  chiefs  had  retained  the 
services  of  a  vast  number  of  Scotch  mercen- 
aries, and  it  was  expected  that  the  rising  would 
take  place  about  midsummer.  At  first  the  con- 
federates appear  to  have  aimed  only  at  the 
restoration  of  the  young  Earl ;  but,  as  the  con- 
spiracy had  extended,  the  hopes  of  the  leaders 
had  risen,  and  O'Neil  had  lately  intimated  his 
intention  of  assuming  the  crown  of  Ireland.  It 
was  generally  believed  that  the  Emperor,  the 
King  of  France  and  the  Pope  would  invade 
England,  and  that  the  King  of  Scots  would 
invade  Ireland  and  come  through  Ulster.  After 
being  detained  for  some  months  in  captivity, 
O'Conor  was  again  examined  and  made  some 
further  admissions.  The  Irish  had  many  friends 
in  the  Pale,  and  Kildare's  sister,  Lady  Slane,  and 
her  cousins  the  Eustaces  were  deeply  involved 
in  the  conspiracy.  O'Conor's  story  was,  in  part, 
confirmed  by  Thomas  Lynch,  a  Galway  mer- 
chant, whose  business  had  lately  taken  him  to 
O'Donel's  country.  Lynch  was  not  himself  in 
the  confidence  of  the  confederates,  and  he  was 
able  to  furnish  few  details  ;  but  he  told  the 
government  that  Kildare  was  receiving  frequent 
messengers  both  from  Desmond  and  from  the 
lords  of  the    Pale,   and   that  the  plans  for  the 

220 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

approaching  campaign  were  openly  discussed. 
O'Neil,  with  the  bulk  of  the  Ulster  forces,  was 
to  invade  the  Pale  from  the  north ;  O'Donel 
was  to  proceed  by  way  of  Connaught  and  West- 
meath,  gathering  his  allies  as  he  passed,  and 
attack  the  Englishry  from  the  west  ;  the 
O'Tooles  were  to  create  a  diversion  near  Dublin, 
and  Desmond  was  to  ravage  Tipperary.  The 
friars  and  priests,  not  only  in  O'Donel's  country, 
but  all  over  Ireland,  were  "preaching  daily  that 
every  man  ought,  for  the  salvation  of  his  soul, 
to  fight  and  make  war  against  the  King's 
Majesty  and  his  true  subjects,"  and  those 
who  maintained  the  contrary  were  everywhere 
excluded  from  the  sacraments.^ 

These  depositions  were  made  in  the  presence 
of  Alen,  by  whom  they  were  eventually  for- 
warded to  Cromwell,  Gray  being  apparently 
kept  in  ignorance  of  O'Conor's  confession,  by 
which  he  was  himself  implicated.  He  was  at 
this  time  plotting  desperately  to  secure  the 
person  of  his  nephew,  and,  with  that  object, 
had  arranged  to  meet  the  Ulster  chiefs  at 
Carrick  Bradagh,  four  miles  from  Dundalk. 
The  latter  had  promised  to  bring  young  Gerald 
with  them ;  had  they  done  so.  Gray  himself 
told  Henry  "they  should  have  left  him  behind 

^  Confession  of  Conor  Mor  O'Conor,  April  17.  O'Conor's 
further  confession,  July  i.  Confession  of  Thomas  Lynch,  of 
Galway,  merchant.  These  depositions  were  enclosed  in  Alen's 
letter  of  July  10. 

221 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

them  quick  or  dead."  O'Neil,  however,  who 
appears  to  have  been  aware  of  his  intention, 
omitted  to  keep  his  appointment;  and,  after  a 
futile  attempt  to  negotiate,  the  Lord  Deputy 
marched  back  to  DubHn.' 

In  July  the  storm  burst.  The  hope  of  foreign 
succour  indeed  was  disappointed,  as  similar 
hopes  have  been  often  disappointed  since,  the 
continental  powers  quarrelling  as  usual  among 
themselves,  and  James  of  Scotland  being  afraid 
to  move  without  them.  But,  so  far  as  the  Irish 
chiefs  were  concerned,  the  plan  of  operations 
described  by  Lynch  was  carried  out  to  the 
letter.  The  Earl  of  Desmond  "  began  the  dance  '* 
by  invading  Tipperary."  In  August  O'Neil 
and  O'Donel  attacked  the  Pale,  marching  by 
different  routes,  as  had  been  arranged,  and 
joining  forces  in  Westmeath.  For  some  days 
the  situation  was  extremely  critical ;  but  the 
colony  was  once  more  saved  from  annihilation 
by  the  valour  and  ability  of  Lord  Leonard  Gray. 
Hastily  collecting  the  English  troops  at  his 
disposal,  with  the  burgesses  of  Dublin  and 
Drogheda,  and  the  few  gentlemen  of  the  Pale 
who  still  adhered  to  the  government,  the  Lord 
Deputy   marched    to   meet    the   invaders.     The 

^  Gray  to  Henry,  May  9,  1539.  Brabazon  to  Cromwell, 
May  26. 

^  "  James  of  Desmond,  who  lately  had  a  messenger  in 
Scotland,  hath  begun  this  dance  ;  for  his  heart  is  so  full  of 
poison  it  cannot  but  brast  out."     Alen  to  Cromwell,  July  10 

222 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

latter  had  already  burnt  the  towns  of  Ardee 
and  Navan,  and  laid  waste  a  great  part  of  the 
surrounding  territory ;  but  their  followers, 
after  the  manner  of  tribal  armies,  began  to 
disperse  with  the  booty,  and  Gray  overtook 
and  routed  the  main  body  of  the  Ulster  forces 
at  Lake  Bellahoe  on  the  border  of  Meath  and 
Monaghan.^ 

By  many  writers  the  battle  of  Bellahoe  has 
been  described  as  the  turning-point  in  Anglo- 
Irish  history,  the  event  which  broke  the  power 
of  the  Ulster  chieftains,  and  prepared  the  way 
for  the  general  submission  two  years  later ;  but 
the  scanty  notices  in  contemporary  documents 
seem  to  warrant  a  suspicion  that  the  results  of 
the  victory  have  been  greatly  exaggerated.  In 
October,  Gray,  still  hoping  to  secure  his 
nephew,  made  a  fresh  appointment  with  O'Neil; 
but  O'Neil,  for  the  second  time,  refused  to  put 
his  neck  into  the  noose,  and,  after  venting  his 
ill-temper  by  a  predatory  raid  on  Lecale,  the 
Lord  Deputy  marched  southward  to  the  relief 
of  the  new  Earl  of  Ormond.^  Ormond,  hard 
pressed  by  Desmond  and  Murrough  O'Brien, 
had   rendered   no  assistance  to  the   government 

^  Cowley  to  Cromwell,  September  8.  Stanihurst,  pp.  311- 
312.  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters^  1 539)  ^^^  O'Donovan's 
note. 

^  Gray  to  Cromwell,  October  3 1 .  Piers,  eighth  Earl  of 
Ormond,  died  in  September,  1539,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  James. 

223 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

and  was  with  difficulty  defending  his  own 
frontier.  The  arrival  of  Gray  with  a  strong 
body  of  reinforcements,  recently  sent  from 
England,  put  an  end  to  the  threatened  danger ; 
while  the  landing,  about  the  same  time,  of 
young  James  FitzMaurice  had  the  effisct  of 
temporarily  detaching  Sir  Gerald  MacShane, 
the  White  Knight,  and  other  Geraldines  from 
the  Desmond  alliance.  Encouraged  by  this 
unexpected  weakening  of  their  adversary  the 
earl  and  the  deputy,  whom  a  common  peril 
had  induced  to  bury  their  mutual  animosities, 
resolved  to  carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's 
country.  In  December  they  over-ran  a  great 
part  of  Munster,  and  before  the  end  of  the 
year  they  had  established  FitzMaurice  in  pos- 
session of  the  eastern  half  of  his  grandfather's 
territories.^ 

The  next  year  opened  with  fresh  disasters. 
1540  The  defeat  of  Bellahoe  had  rather  irritated  than 
cowed  the  Irish  leaders,  and  on  January  i8th 
the  Lord  Deputy  and  council  informed  Henry 
that  the  detestable  traitors — young  Gerald, 
O'Neil,  O'Donel,  the  pretended  Earl  of  Des- 
mond, O'Brien,  O'Conor,  and  their  allies — 
continued  to  destroy  the  King's  subjects,  to 
subdue  the  whole  land,  to  erect  and  glorify  the 
Bishop  of  Rome's  usurped  primacy,  and  to 
elevate  and   fortify  the  Geraldine   sect,  and  that 

^  Ormond  to  Cromwell,  December  20. 
224 


THE    GERALDINE   LEAGUE 

they  still  hoped  to  induce  the  Emperor,  the 
King  of  France,  and  other  foreign  princes,  to 
take  part  with  them/  On  the  twenty-second, 
Gray  made  a  third  and  last  attempt  to  meet 
O'Neil  at  Carrick  Bradagh,  and  for  the  third 
time  O'Neil  contrived  to  evade  an  interview. 
No  longer  hoping  to  disarm  his  suspicions,  the 
Lord  Deputy  next  attempted  to  surprise  the 
Irish  leader  by  night ;  but  his  guides  missed 
their  way,  and  daybreak  found  him  five  miles 
distant  from  his  enemy's  castle  of  Dungannon. 
For  six  days  his  troops  robbed  and  burned  the 
country  ;  but  their  ferocity  served  only  to  exas- 
perate the  Irish. ^  But  Gray's  persistent  attempts 
to  secure  the  person  of  his  nephew  had  excited 
the  alarm  of  Lady  Eleanor,  and,  on  a  dark  night 
in  February,  the  young  Earl,  bareheaded  and 
clad  only  in  the  saffron  shirt  of  an  Irish  peasant, 
was  conveyed  on  board  a  French  ship  bound  for 
St.  Malo.  He  was  accompanied  by  the  ever- 
faithful  Leverous,  by  Robert  Walsh,  who  had 
been  one  of  his  brother's  agents  in  Spain,  and  by 
a  third  person  whose  name  the  spy,  to  whom 
we  are  indebted  for  our  knowledge  of  these 
particulars,  was  unable  to  discover.  The 
business  was  conducted  with  the  utmost  secrecy, 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry,  January  i8,  1540. 
The  hopes  of  the  confederates  appear  to  have  been  raised  by 
the  visit  which  Charles  V  paid  to  Paris  at  the  beginning  of 
this  year. 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry,  February  13. 

225  Q 


THE    GERALDINE    LEAGUE 

and  it  was  not  until  three  months  later  that 
Henry  was  informed  that  his  prey  had  escaped 
him.^ 

^  Bartholomew  Warner  to  Sir  John  Wallop,  May  22,  1540. 
Cf.  Thomas  Barnaby  to  Henry,  February  6,  1541,  and 
Stanihurst,  p.  305.  Stanlhurst  pretends  that  O'Donel  had 
resolved  to  betray  Gerald,  and  that  Lady  Eleanor,  being  aware 
of  his  intentions,  sent  the  boy  abroad  without  his  knowledge. 
The  correspondence  in  the  i^tate  Papers  is  quite  irreconcilable 
with  this  fiction. 


226 


CHAPTER    V 

THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

The  flight  of  young  Gerald  practically  dissolved 
the  coalition  ;  but  Gray's  victory  served  only 
to  precipitate  his  own  dov^nfall.  For  some 
months  the  Lord  Deputy  had  been  urgently 
entreating  Henry  for  leave  to  visit  England. 
He  w^as  weary  of  an  office  which  few  Englishmen 
had  ever  discharged  with  credit  to  themselves  or 
satisfaction  to  their  employers,  and  perhaps 
alarmed  by  the  reports  which  reached  him 
from  London/  At  the  beginning  of  April  the 
desired  permission  was  at  length  granted.  The 
Irish  were  quiet  for  the  moment  ;  but  it  was 
expected  that  they  would  resume  hostilities  before 
the  end  of  May,  and  Gray  was  ordered  "  so  to 
accelerate  his  journey  that  he  might  eftsoons  be 
dispatched  thither  again." ^ 

The   tranquillity,  such    as    it    was,   was    due 
chiefly  to  his  own  energy  ;  and  he  had  no  sooner 

^  "  It  hath  been  reported  to  me  that  some  persons  here  have 
gone  about  to  hinder  me  to  your  Grace.  If  any  such  thing 
be,  I  most  humbly  beseech  your  Highness,  for  the  love  of 
God,  to  suspend  to  give  credit  to  any  such  thing,  till  your 
Majesty  shall  hear  my  answ^er  thereunto." — Gray  to  Henry, 
March  lo,  1540. 

'  Henry  to  Gray  and  Brereton,  April  i,  1540. 

227 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

crossed  the  channel  than  the  whole  kingdom  was 
in  a  blaze.  The  letters  of  the  Council,  and  of 
Brereton,  who  had  been  appointed  Lord  Justice, 
furnish  a  vivid  picture  of  the  anarchy  which 
followed  Gray's  departure.  The  finances  were 
in  disorder,  the  army  mutinous  for  want  of 
wages,  the  citizens  impoverished  and  exaspe- 
rated by  the  exactions  of  the  army.  O 'Conor 
was  once  more  robbing  and  burning  in  Kildare, 
and  MacMurrough  in  Wexford,  and  O'Toole  in 
the  Dublin  marches.  Half  of  Lcinster  had  been 
lost  :  in  the  other  provinces  every  vestige  of 
authority  had  completely  disappeared.  O'Byrne 
and  O'Reilly  were  almost  the  only  Irishmen  who 
were  not  at  war,  and  even  their  fidelity  was 
doubtful.^ 

Brereton,  Alen,  Brabazon  and  Ormond  agreed 
in  attributing  these  calamities  to  the  neglect  of 
the  late  Deputy.  The  first  had  an  obvious 
interest  in  exaggerating  the  mistakes  of  his 
predecessor,  and  the  other  three  were  Gray's 
bitter  personal  enemies.     Their  representations 

^  Council  to  Cromwell,  April  30.  Ormond  to  Cromwell, 
May  I.  Brereton  to  Cromwell,  May  7.  Alen  and  Brabazon 
to  Cromwell,  May  8.  Some  additional  particulars  will  be 
found  in  a  curious  letter  from  Robert  Cowley  to  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  which  is  not  among  the  State  Papers.  This  letter, 
which  is  only  dated  July  6,  is  printed  from  a  MS.  in  the 
Cotton  Collection  {Titus  b.  xi,  2 1 8),  in  Ellis's  Original 
Letters  relating  to  English  History^  Series  II,  pp.  93-104,  where 
it  is  incorrectly  placed  under  the  year  1538.  It  was  evidently 
written  after  Gray's  recall. 

228 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

sufficed  to  complete  Gray's  ruin  ;  and  he  was 
committed  to  the  Tower,^  which  he  only  left 
a  year  later  for  the  scaffold.  Sir  Antony  St. 
Leger  was  appointed  Lord  Deputy  in  his  place, 
and  was  ordered,  as  soon  as  he  could  spare  time 
from  more  urgent  matters,  to  institute  an  inquiry 
into  the  conduct  of  his  predecessor.^ 

But  Gray,  although  his  own  career  had  closed 
in  disaster,  had  broken  the  back  of  the  rebellion  ; 
and  when  St.  Leger  landed  in  August  little 
remained  for  him  but  to  accept  the  submission 
of  the  chieftains.  The  insurrection  of  May, 
apparently  so  formidable,  was  in  fact  only  the 
last  flicker  of  a  flame  whose  vital  heat  was 
extinct.  English  and  Irish  were  alike  weary 
of  a  war  which  had  been  attended  with  infinite 
loss  to  both  parties,  with  no  material  advantage 
to  either.  The  Celtic  chiefs  had  attained  none 
of  the  objects  for  which,  ostensibly  at  least,  they 
had  taken  arms,  while  they  and  their  clansmen 
had  suffered  cruelly  during  the  struggle.  The 
troops,  wherever  they  passed,  had  burnt  the 
farms  and  driven  off  the  cattle  in  the  vain  hope 
of  starving  the  rebels  into  submission.  In  other 
districts  the  people  had  themselves  destroyed  their 

^  The  Privy  Council  of  England  to  the  Lord  Justice  and 
Council  of  Ireland,  June  12.  In  the  Record  Office  is  an 
"  Inventory  of  the  plate,  wearing  apparel  and  household  furni- 
ture of  Lord  Leonard  Gray,"  taken  after  his  arrest.  A  part 
of  this  inventory  has  been  printed  in  the  Chartulary  of  St. 
Mary's  Abbey. 

^  Henry  to  St.  Leger,  September  26. 

229 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

crops  lest  they  should  furnish  food  to  an  invader  ; 
and  many  of  the  most  fertile  parts  of  Ireland 
had  been  turned  into  a  wilderness.  The  Pales- 
men  had  still  stronger  grounds  for  dissatisfaction. 
At  an  earlier  period  the  English  residents  in 
Ireland  had  been  accustomed  to  regard  the 
native  population  as  lit  objects  for  oppression 
and  plunder  ;  but  time  had  greatly  softened 
these  animosities,  while  the  civil  and  military 
officials  sent  over  from  England  did  not  trouble 
to  discriminate  between  the  different  classes  of 
inhabitants,  but  treated  the  mere  Irish  and  the 
old  English  of  the  Pale  with  impartial  injustice.^ 
Religion  was  now  accentuating  the  differences 
between  the  new  and  old  colonists,  and  oblitera- 
ting those  between  the  latter  and  the  Celts. 
For  six  years  the  gentlemen  of  the  four  shires 
had  been  plundered  alternately  by  the  Irish 
borderers  and  by  the  ill-paid  garrisons  of  Dublin 
and  Drogheda.  They  had  borne,  and  must  con- 
tinue to  bear,  the  whole  brunt  of  the  war,  while 
the  fruits  of  conquest  would  be  reaped  solely  by 
a  monarch  who  had  given  them  small  reason  to 
love  him.  The  King,  who  cared  extremely 
little  for  either   English    or    Irish,  was   equally 

^  "  We  be  credibly  informed  that  sundry  of  our  retinue 
there  do  both  in  words  and  deeds  much  misbehave  themselves 
towards  our  good  and  loving  subjects  of  that  country,  as  in 
calling  them  traitors,  and  in  violent  taking  of  their  goods  and 
commodities  from  them." — Henry  to  Gray  and  Brereton, 
April  I. 

230 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

anxious  to  put  an  end  to  the  struggle.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  rebellion  he  appears  to  have 
expected  that  Ireland  would  be  conquered  in  a 
few  months,  and  that  the  expenses  of  conquest 
would  be  defrayed  by  confiscation.  But  the 
war  had  now  lasted  nearly  seven  years  ;  the 
cost  had  been  enormous  ;  and  the  prospect  of 
remunerative  forfeitures  was  as  remote  as  ever. 
It  was  still  possible  that  Ireland  might  be  con- 
quered ;  there  was  no  longer  any  reasonable 
hope  that  she  would  bear  the  expense  of  her 
own  conquest.  Even  the  Dublin  junto,  hitherto 
the  staunch  advocates  of  coercion,  had  learnt  at 
last  that  tyranny  was  an  expensive  luxury,  and 
were  hinting  that  it  was  advisable  to  adopt  a 
more  economical  method  of  government.^     His 

^  "Irishmen  will  never  be  conquered  by  rigorous  war. 
They  can  suffer  so  much  hardness  to  lie  in  the  field,  to  cat 
roots  and  water  continually,  and  be  so  deliver  and  light,  ever 
at  their  advantage  to  flee  or  fight ;  so  that  a  great  army  were 
but  a  charge  in  vain  and  would  make  victuals  dear.  .  .  .  The 
Irishmen  have  pregnant  subtle  wits,  eloquent  and  marvellous 
natural  in  comynaunce.  They  must  be  instructed  that  the 
King  intendeth  not  to  exile,  banish  or  destroy  them,  but  would 
be  content  that  every  of  them  should  enjoy  his  possessions, 
taking  the  same  of  the  King,  as  O'Donel  hath  done  and 
O'Neil  is  crying  to  do,  and  become  his  true  subjects,  obedient 
to  his  laws,  forsaking  their  Irish  laws,  habits  and  customs, 
setting  their  children  to  learn  English." — Cowley's  Plan  for 
the  Reformation  of  Ireland,  1541.  Several  similar  passages 
might  be  cited  ;  but  this  letter  is  especially  remarkable,  as 
the  writer  had  previously  drawn  up  an  elaborate  scheme  tor 
the  extermination  of  the  Irish. — Plan  for  reducing  Ireland  to 
obedience,  June,  1536. 

231 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

Majesty  began  to  consider  whether  it  might  not 
be  possible  to  attain  his  objects  by  some  less 
costly  process. 

Those  objects  were  three.  He  desired,  in  the 
first  place,  to  procure  from  all  the  inhabitants  of 
Ireland,  Irish  as  well  as  English,  a  recognition 
of  his  title  both  as  Head  of  the  Church  and  as 
King  of  Ireland.  The  assumption  of  the  latter 
title  followed  logically  from  the  former,  the 
older  style,  "  Lord  of  Ireland,"  implying  a 
recognition  of  the  Papal  overlordship,  which 
Henry  had  renounced.  Secondly,  he  wished  to 
obtain  from  Ireland  a  revenue  which,  if  it  did 
not  defray  the  expenses  of  the  late  war,  would 
at  least  meet  the  cost  of  government  for  the 
future.  Lastly,  he  aimed  at  the  complete  assimi- 
lation of  Ireland  to  England  by  the  obliteration 
of  all  distinctively  national  characteristics. 

To  attain  these  objects  it  was  necessary  to 
adopt  one  of  two  alternative  courses.  The 
King  might,  in  the  first  place,  have  confiscated 
the  entire  soil  of  Ireland,  expelled  the  native 
occupants,  and  distributed  their  lands  among 
Englishmen  attached  to  his  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
supremacy.  The  new  owners  would,  of  course, 
have  readily  acknowledged  his  title.  They 
would  have  willingly  paid  a  considerable  sum, 
in  the  form  either  of  purchase  money  or  of 
subsidy,  for  the  lands  allotted  to  them.  They 
would  have  brought  over  farmers  and  labourers 
from  England,  and  the  customs  which  were  the 

232 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

bugbear  of  English  lawyers  would  have  dis- 
appeared with  the  population  which  used  them. 
That  this  policy,  substantially  identical  with 
that  which  was  afterwards  adopted  by  Cromwell, 
was  also  that  at  first  contemplated  by  Henry,  is 
evident  from  many  letters.  But  the  practical 
difficulties  were  insuperable.  The  lands  of  the 
Irish  were  so  wasted  that  few  Englishmen 
would  have  cared  to  accept  them  as  a  gift,'  and 
to  expel  the  occupants  would  have  been  useless 
if  no  one  could  be  found  to  take  their  places. 

The  alternative  policy  was  that  which  had 
been  inaugurated  two  years  earlier  by  the  late 
Deputy,  and  to  this  Henry  now  proposed  to 
revert.  Lord  Leonard  Gray  had  been  guilty  of 
many  errors,  but  he  was  the  first  Englishman 
who  realized  that  the  best  hope  of  settling  the 
Irish  question  lay  in  the  conciliation  of  the 
native  population.  With  this  end  in  view  he 
had  concluded  a  number  of  treaties  with  various 
Irish  chieftains,  who  agreed  to  acknowledge  the 
King  as  their  sovereign,  to  renounce  the  Bishop 
of  Rome,  to  hold  their  lands  by  knight's  service, 
to  assist  the  Deputy  with  money  and  soldiers, 
to  wear  the  English  dress,  and  generally  to  con- 
form to  the  English  manners.^  In  return  for 
these  concessions  they  had  received  a  pardon  for 

^  Alcnto  Henry,  October  6,  1536. 

^  Note  of  the  peaces  made  in  the  time  of  Lord  Leonard 
Gray,  the  King's  Deputy,  January  2,  1540.  Abstracts  of 
most  of  these  treaties  are  in  the  Carew  MSS. 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

past  offences,  and  had  been  confirmed  in  the 
possession  of  their  lands.  The  policy  had 
broken  down  at  the  time,  owing  partly  to  the 
intrigues  of  Lady  Eleanor,  partly  to  the  opposi- 
tion of  Ormond  and  the  Dublin  junto,  partly, 
it  must  be  acknowledged,  to  the  distrust  which 
Gray's  antecedents  had  inspired,  and  which  his 
persistent  and  perfidious  attempts  to  capture  his 
nephew  kept  alive.  But  it  was  in  itself  a  sound 
one,  and  it  was  now  resumed  under  happier 
auspices. 

The  new  Deputy  left  London  on  July  19th, 
but  being  detained  by  a  contrary  wind  at 
Chester,  did  not  reach  Dublin  until  August 
1 2th.  Before  his  arrival  Brereton  had  once 
more  ravaged  Offaly,  and  Ormond  Carlow. 
After  a  sharp  campaign  of  three  weeks,  during 
which  his  country  was  pretty  thoroughly 
devastated,  O'Conor  submitted,  and  his  example 
was  speedily  followed  by  his  adherents,  the 
McGeoghegans,  the  O'Melaghlins  and  the 
O'Mulloys.  The  Kavanaghs  still  held  out,  and 
St.  Leger  promptly  took  the  field  against  them. 
Entering  their  territory  on  the  Monday  after  his 
arrival,  he  remained  in  it  for  ten  days,  "burning 
and  destroying  the  same."  The  Earl  of  Ormond 
having  been  similarly  employed  for  some  weeks 
previously,  there  was  soon  nothing  left  to  burn 
or  to  destroy,  and  before  the  end  of  the  month 
MacMurrough  submitted  from  sheer  exhaustion. 
He  "renounced  the   name  of  MacMurrough," 

234 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

and  promised,  on  behalf  of  his  clan,  "never 
more  to  elect  nor  choose  among  them  none  to 
bear  the  same  name,  ne  yet  to  be  their  governor," 
but  to  accept  such  rulers  as  the  King  should 
appoint;  to  hold  their  lands  by  knight's  service, 
to  obey  the  King's  law^s,  and  to  "persecute  all 
other  of  their  nation  that  should  disobey  the 
same." 

Relieved  from  anxiety  in  this  quarter  the 
Lord  Deputy  turned  his  attention  to  the  west, 
where  the  O'Moores  and  their  allies  were 
carrying  on  the  usual  border  warfare  with 
something  more  than  the  usual  ferocity. 
The  O'Moores  were  easily  reduced  ;  O'Dunn, 
O'Dempsey,  and  "divers  other  petty  lords," 
who  had  lately  been  confederated  with  O'Conor, 
were  detached  from  their  former  leader,  who,  in 
spite  of  his  recent  submission,  was  still  regarded 
with  suspicion  by  the  government.^ 

Having  reduced  the  midlands  the  Lord  Deputy 
once  more  turned  to  Wicklow,  where  fresh  dis- 
turbances were  anticipated.  The  O'Byrnes 
having  already  submitted  to  Gray  and  the 
Kavanaghs  to  St.  Leger,  only  the  O'Tooles 
remained  to  be  dealt  with.  The  O'Tooles  had 
concluded  a  truce  for  three  years  with  the  late 
deputy,  but  this  truce  was  now  about  to  expire."^ 

^  St.  Leger  to  Henry,  September  I2,  1540.  Council  to 
Henry,  September  22. 

2  Indenture  between  Lord  Leonard  Gray  and  Turlough 
O'Toole,    December    18,    1 537.     St.    Leger    says    that   the 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

This  turbulent  sept,  which  occupied  the  most 
barren  and  mountainous  part  of  what  is  now 
called  the  county  of  Wicklow,  had  been  a  source 
of  incessant  annoyance  to  successive  governors. 
Their  power  was  small — their  number  did  not 
exceed,  if  it  reached,  three  hundred — but  their 
situation  enabled  them  to  plunder  the  English 
residents  in  Dublin,  and  their  poverty  made 
effective  retaliation  impossible.  It  was  pro- 
bably this  last  consideration  that  induced  St. 
Leger  to  adopt  a  conciliatory  policy  ;  for  when, 
after  being  hunted  about  the  mountains  for  four 
weeks,  Turlough,  the  head  of  the  clan,  proposed 
to  submit  and  to  hold  his  lands  by  knight's  ser- 
vice, the  Lord  Deputy  showed  every  disposition 
to  come  to  terms.  He  did  not,  indeed,  venture 
to  grant  the  O'Toole's  petition  on  his  own 
responsibility  ;  but  he  sent  Turlough  to  England 
with  a  letter  of  introduction  to  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  and  privately  advised  Henry  to  accede 
to  his  request.  To  the  O'Byrnes,  who  occupied 
another  part  of  Wicklow  and  were  much  richer 
and  more  civilized  than  their  neighbours,  similar 
terms  were  granted,  and  the  reduction  of  Leinster 
was  complete.^ 

O'Tooles  had  loyally  observed  their  engagements  ;  but  I  do 
not  see  how  this  can  be  reconciled  with  the  statements  of 
Brereton  and  others  earlier  in  the  year. 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry,  November  14,  1540. 
Petition  of  Turlough  and  Art  O'Toole,  enclosed  in  the  pre- 
ceding. St.  Leger  to  Norfolk,  November  16.  Proceedings  of 
the  Privy  Council^  VII,  92. 

236 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

In  the  other  provinces  there  was  as  yet  Httle 
or  no  sign  of  improvement.  O'Neil  was  quiet 
for  the  nonce,  but  little  dependence  could  be 
placed  upon  him.  On  May  i  ith  he  once  more 
marched  towards  Carrick  Bradagh,"  under  colour 
to  parle  with  the  Lord  Justice,"  but  his  fol- 
lowing was  so  numerous  as  to  create  a  doubt 
of  his  intentions.  Brereton  at  once  set  out  to 
meet  him  :  but  O'Neil  again  declined  an  inter- 
view, alleging  that  he  dared  not  come  to  any 
Englishman  after  the  deceit  of  the  late  deputy. 
Some  days  were  spent  in  negotiations,  during 
which  O'Conor  and  his  allies  once  more  burned 
the  Pale,  and,  although  the  Lord  Justice  returned 
in  time  to  save  the  colonists  from  annihilation, 
the  shock  to  English  prestige  was  a  serious  one.^ 
In  the  summer  O'Neil  and  O'Donel  both  wrote 
to  Henry  making  offers  of  submission,  but  they 
were  known  to  be  corresponding  with  the  court 
of  Scotland,  and  the  Council  rightly  insisted  that 
they  could  not  be  trusted.^  In  September  St. 
Leger  made  a  fresh  attempt  to  negotiate,  but 
once  more  without  result.^ 

•^  Brereton  to  Cromwell,  May  1 7,  1 540. 

^  O'Donel  to  Henry,  June  20.  O'Neil  to  Henry,  July  20. 
"  O'Neil  writeth  fair  letters ;  howbeit  we  have  no  confidence 
in  him,  more  than  in  a  mere  fraudulent  Irishman,  a  pure 
Geraldine.  And  what  he  and  other  his  confederates  intend 
to  do  we  be  uncertain,  but  by  all  appearance  we  greatly  suspect 
them." — Lord  Justice  and  Council  to  Henry,  July  25.  Cf. 
James  V  to  O'Neil,  June  5,  1540.  Epistola  JacobilV^  Jacobi  V 
et  Marice^  Scotorum  Regum^  II,  73. 

^  Council  to  Henry,  September  22. 

^Z7 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

The  state  of  the  southern  province  was  still 
more  serious.  In  the  preceding  autumn  Gray 
and  Ormond  had  overrun  a  great  part  of  Mun- 
ster,  and  had  established  James  FitzMaurice  in 
possession  of  the  eastern  half  of  the  Desmond 
inheritance.  On  the  Friday  before  Palm  Sunday 
the  young  Earl,  as  he  called  himself,  was 
captured  and  killed  by  Maurice,  the  brother  of 
his  rival,  James  Fitzjohn.  The  latter,  who  was 
now  the  sole  claimant  to  the  earldom,  entered 
Youghal  a  few  days  later,  and  easily  made  him- 
self master  of  Munster  from  Waterford  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Shannon.^ 

The  rulers  of  Ireland  have  seldom  hesitated 
to  sacrifice  an  unserviceable  ally  ;  and  the 
Council,  instead  of  resenting  the  murder  of 
their  protege,  exerted  themselves  with  an  igno- 
minious promptitude  to  conciliate  the  murderer. 
Desmond  was  assured  that  his  title  was  now 
indisputable,  and  that,  if  he  would  desert  his 
confederates,  no  uncomfortable  questions  would 
be  asked. 

The  negotiation  was  entrusted  to  the  Earl  of 
Ormond,  who,  in  spite  of  the  hereditary  feud 
between  their  families,  spared  no  pains  to  soothe 
the  apprehensions  of  his  powerful  neighbour. 
But  Desmond,  although  he  professed  a  wish  for 
reconciliation,  refused  to  separate  himself  from 
his  allies,  protesting  that  the  Irish  confederacy 
was  so  strong  that  it  would  be  unsafe  for  him 
^  Council  to  Henry,  April  4. 

238 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

to  resist  it.  He  was  evidently  under  the  in- 
fluence of  O'Brien  ;  and  O'Brien,  although  he 
condescended  to  meet  Ormond  near  Limerick, 
was  "  hault  and  proud,  naming  O'Neil, 
O'Conor  and  the  O'Tooles  his  Irishmen,  whom 
he  intended  to  defend,"  and  had  plainly  no 
intention  of  submitting.^ 

In  December  the  prospect  brightened.  The 
Lord  Deputy  spent  Christmas  at  Carlow  ; 
whence,  having  arranged  some  disputes  among 
the  O'Moores  and  the  Kavanaghs,  he  proceeded 
to  Cashel  ;  and  there,  after  some  further  nego- 
tiations, Desmond  at  length  came  to  terms.  On 
January  1 6th  the  Earl  made  a  formal  submission 
"  in  the  presence  of  Mac  William,  O'Conor  and  1541 
diverse  other  Irish  gentlemen,  to  the  number  of 
two  hundred  at  least."  He  acknowledged  the 
King  to  be  his  sovereign,  and  "  utterly  denied 
and  forsook  the  Bishop  of  Rome  and  his  usurped 
authority."  This  recognition  and  denial  cost 
him  nothing  ;  it  was  more  to  the  purpose  that 
he  consented  to  waive  the  privileges  which  had 
been  enjoyed  by  his  family  for  nearly  a  century, 
and  to  resume  the  seat  vacated  by  his  ancestors 
in  the  House  of  Lords  and  in  the  Privy  Council. 
He  further  agreed  to  surrender  the  castles  which 
had  belonged  to  the  late  Earl  of  Kildare,  in  the 
county  of  Limerick,  or  to  pay  rent  for  them,  if 
the  King  would  allow  him  to  retain  them  ;  to 
pay  the  same  taxes  as  Ormond,  Delvin  and  other 
^  Ormond  to  Brereton,  May  14. 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

Anglo-Irish  lords  ;  to  "  defend  and  maintain  " 
the  cities  of  Cork  and  Limerick,  and  the  towns 
of  Youghal,  Kinsale  and  Kilmallock  ;  and  to 
renounce  all  claim  to  jurisdiction  over  the 
English  gentlemen  of  Munster,  the  three 
Geraldine  knights  excepted. 

The  submission  of  Desmond  made  a  deep 
impression,  and  his  example  was  widely  fol- 
lowed. In  February  Murrough  O'Brien,  the 
most  dangerous  of  the  western  chieftains,  con- 
sented to  "  parle "  with  the  Lord  Deputy  at 
Limerick.  His  attitude  was  on  the  whole 
friendly  ;  but  he  refused  to  enter  into  articles 
until  he  had  consulted  his  clansmen,  "  foras- 
much as  he  was  but  one  man,  although  he  was 
captain  of  his  nation."  For  his  own  part,  he 
was  willing  enough  to  acknowledge  Henry  as 
his  sovereign  ;  but  "  it  liked  him  nothing  "  that 
the  government  would  neither  allow  him  to 
rebuild  his  bridge  nor  recognize  his  jurisdiction 
over  the  O'Briens  of  Onaugh,  a  branch  of  his 
clan  who  had  settled  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Shannon.  On  both  these  points  St.  Leger  was 
inflexible  ;  and  O'Brien  departed  not  wholly 
satisfied  ;  while  the  Lord  Deputy  consoled  him- 
self with  the  reflection  that,  with  Desmond, 
Donough  O'Brien  and  MacWilliam  loyal,  he 
could  do  little  mischief.^ 

^  St.  Leger  to  Henry,  February  21,  1541.  Submission  of 
the  Earl  of  Desmond,  January  16,  1541,  enclosed  in  the 
preceding. 

240 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

Of  all  the  Anglo-Norman  families  the  two 
great  houses  of  the  Galway  and  Mayo  Burkes 
were  the  most  completely  Hibernicized.  In 
Munster  and  the  greater  part  of  Leinster, 
although  the  crown  had  long  ceased  to  exercise 
any  effective  authority,  traces  of  feudalism  were 
to  be  found,  and  the  chief  families  preserved 
some  faint  tradition  of  their  Norman  origin. 
In  Connaught,  on  the  other  hand,  the  settlers 
had  long  been  indistinguishable  from  the  native 
Irish/  During  the  late  war  the  Clanricarde 
Burkes  had  been  divided  among  themselves ; 
but  Ulick,  surnamed  "  Negan  "  or  "  the 
Beheader,"  who  had  been  raised  to  the  chief- 
ship  on  the  deposition  of  his  uncle  Richard, 
was  a  staunch  partisan  of  the  Geraldines,  and 
had  been  deeply  implicated  in  the  conspiracy. 
He  had,  however,  been  actuated  principally  by 
personal  motives,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1540 
he  visited  the  Lord  Deputy  at  Dublin.  He 
was  present  when  Desmond  submitted  in  January, 
and  on  March  12th  he  wrote  to  Henry, 
"  lamenting  the  decay  and  misorder  of  his 
ancestors,"  whose  good  manners  had  been  cor- 
rupted by  "marriage  and  nursing  with  the  Irish, 
sometime  rebels,  near  adjoining  them."  He 
offered  to  return  to  his  allegiance,  and  hinted 
that  an  earldom  would  be  a   fit   reward  for  his 

^  For  a  curious  description  of  the  Anglo-Irish  gentlemen  in 
Connaught,  at  a  somewhat  later  period,  see  Sydney  to  the 
Privy  Council,  April  27,  1576. 

241  R 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

conversion.  His  request  was  warmly  seconded 
by  St.  Leger,  who  explained  that  he  was  "a 
goodly  man,  and  a  man  much  desirous  to  come 
to  civil  order,"  and  that,  as  his  lands  lay  between 
those  of  O'Brien  and  O'Donel,  "without  his 
favour  they  could  not  come  together."  Henry, 
who  perhaps  recognized  a  kindred  spirit — for 
MacWilliam  resembled  his  sovereign  in  other 
qualities  besides  ferocity  and  treachery — replied 
graciously,  but  explained  that  earldoms  could 
only  be  conferred  by  the  King  in  person,  and 
that,  if  MacWilliam  would  be  satisfied  with  no 
lower  dignity,  he  must  "put  himself  in  order" 
to  repair  to  England  without  delay.  A  vis- 
county, on  the  other  hand,  might  be  conferred 
by  letters  patent,  and  should  be  his  as  soon  as 
he  chose  to  ask  for  it.^ 

In  the  same  month  McGillapatrick  of  Upper 
Ossory,  one  of  the  very  few  native  chiefs  who 
had  consistently  taken  part  with  the  crown  since 
the  beginning  of  the  rebellion,  entered  into  the 
following  indentures  with  the  Lord  Deputy. 
He  agreed,  for  himself  and  his  heirs,  to  renounce 
the  name  of  McGillapatrick,  and  to  accept  in 
place  of  it  whatever  title  the  King  might  be 
pleased  to  confer  upon  him ;  to  use,  and  to 
cause  his  tenants  to  use,  "the  English  habits 
and  manners,  and  to  their  knowledge  the 
English  language,  and  to  bring  up  their  children 

^  MacWilliam  to  Henry,  March  12.  Henry  to  MacWilliam, 
May  I. 

242 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

after  the  English  manner,  and  the  use  of  the 
English  tongue";  to  introduce  English  methods 
of  agriculture,  and  to  build  houses  after  the 
English  fashion;  not  to  "take,  put  or  cess,  or 
cause  to  be  taken,  put  or  cessed  any  manner  of 
imposition  or  charge  upon  the  King's  subjects, 
but  such  as  the  Deputy  should  be  content  withal"; 
to  obey  the  King's  laws,  and  to  "answer  to  his 
Highness's  writs,  precepts  and  commandments 
in  his  Majesty's  Castle  of  Dublin,  or  in  any 
other  place  where  his  courts  should  be  kept";  to 
attend  the  Deputy  to  hostings,  on  receipt  of 
due  notice,  "with  such  number  of  company  as 
the  marchers  of  the  county  of  Dublin  do"  ;  not 
to  "maintain  or  succour,  receive  or  take  to 
sojourn,  any  of  the  King's  enemies,  rebels,  or 
traitors";  and  to  hold  his  lands  by  knight's 
service.  McGillapatrick  had  married  Ormond's 
daughter,  and  was  generally  accounted  one  of 
the  most  "civil"  of  the  Irishry  :  his  submission, 
nevertheless,  was  signed  with  a  mark.^ 

To  deal  with  O'Conor  was  more  difficult. 
In  1538  that  chieftain  had  submitted  to  Gray 
on  terms  very  similar  to  those  afterwards  granted 
to  McGillapatrick.  So  long  as  Gray  remained 
in  Ireland  O'Conor  had  loyally  observed  his 
engagements,  but  on  the  recall  of  the  latter  he 
had  again  taken  arms ;  and  Henry,  exasperated 
by  his  repeated  rebellions,  had  insisted  that  St. 

*  Submission  of  McGillapatrick,  March,  1541. 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

Leger  should  "  in  no  wise  take  any  peace  with 
him,  but  rather  expel  him  utterly  his  country  ; 
which  we  shall  be  content  to  give  to  his  brother 
Cahir,  so  as  the  same  Cahir  will  leave  the  Irish 
fashion,  and  be  obedient  to  our  laws,  and  frame 
himself  and  those  which  shall  be  under  him  to 
the  manners  and  kind  of  living  of  the  English 
Pale."  But  before  this  letter  was  written 
O'Conor,  happily  for  himself,  had  once  more 
submitted,  and  Brereton,  hard  pressed  by  O'Neil 
and  feebly  supported  by  the  home  government, 
had  been  glad  to  accept  him  on  his  own  terms. 
The  King  was  much  irritated  ;  but  St.  Leger, 
who  had  little  faith  in  coercion,  protested  that 
to  ignore  the  treaty  would  be  neither  honour- 
able nor  politic,  and  suggested  that  a  peerage, 
accompanied  by  a  grant  of  land  to  be  held  by 
knight's  service,  would  be  the  best  means  of 
confirming  his  tardy  loyalty.^ 

The  submission  of  these  chiefs  and  of  some 
others  of  less  note  rendered  possible  a  step  which 
Henry  had  long  contemplated,  but  which  the 
disturbed  condition  of  the  country  had  hitherto 
made  it  necessary  to  postpone.  Since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  schism  the  Irish  government  had 
repeatedly  urged  his  Majesty  to  assume  the  title  of 
King  of  Ireland,  and  in  December,  1540,  St. 
Leger  recommended  that  a  parliament  should  be 
convened  with  that  object.     "We  think,"  wrote 

^  Henry  to  Lord   Deputy  and  Council,  September  7,  1540. 
Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry,  November  13. 

244 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

the  Lord  Deputy,  "  that  they  that  be  of  the 
Irishry  would  more  gladly  obey  your  Highness 
by  the  name  of  King  of  this  your  land  than  by 
the  name  of  Lord  thereof,  having  had  heretofore 
a  foolish  opinion  among  them  that  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  should  be  king  of  the  samc."^ 

In  the  following  June  the  parliament  met  at 
Dublin.  Of  the  Commons'  House  we  know 
only  that  it  contained  "divers  knights  and  many 
gentlemen  of  fair  possessions;"  it  was  probably 
composed,  as  it  had  always  been  composed, 
of  representatives  of  the  counties,  cities  and 
boroughs  in    the    English    part   of  the   island.^ 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry,  December  30. 
"  Irishmen  of  long  continuance  have  supposed  the  regal  estate 
of  this  land  to  consist  in  the  Bishop  of  Rome  for  the  time  being, 
and  the  Lordship  of  the  Kings  of  England  here  to  be  but  a 
governance  under  the  obedience  of  the  same,  which  causeth 
them  to  have  more  respect  of  due  subjection  unto  the  said 
bishop  than  to  our  sovereign  lord  ;  therefore,  me  seemeth  it 
convenient  that  his  Highness  be  recognized  here,  by  act  of 
parliament,  Supreme  Governor  of  this  dominion,  by  the  name 
of  King  of  Ireland,  and  then  to  induce  the  Irish  captains,  as 
well  by  their  oaths  as  writings,  to  recognize  the  same ;  which 
things  shall  be,  in  continuance,  a  great  motive  to  bring  them 
to  due  obedience." — Alen  to  St.  Leger,  1537.  "It  may 
please  you  remember  the  instructions  that  I  wrote  concerning 
this  country  by  your  commandment,  and  specially  to  have  our 
master  recognized  King  of  Ireland  ;  and  doubt  not  in  short 
time  to  have  all  Ireland  then  sworn  to  due  obedience." — Staples 
to  St,  Leger,  June  17,  1538. 

""Before  the  33rd  year  of  King  Henry  VIII  we  do 
not  find  any  to  have  had  place  in  parliament  but  the  English 
of  blood  or  English  of  birth  only ;  for  the  mere  Irish  in  those 
days   were   never  admitted,  as  well   because   their  countries 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

The  House  of  Lords,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a 
very  different  body  from  that  which  had  been 
dismissed  four  years  earher.  In  1537  only 
those  noblemen  and  prelates  whose  lands  lay 
within  the  four  shires,  and  who  were  known 
distinctively  as  the  King's  subjects,  had  been 
present.  In  1541  four  archbishops,  nineteen 
bishops,  and  twenty  temporal  peers  took  their 
seats,  and  among  the  latter  were  some  whose 
ancestors  had  not  attended  parliament  since  the 
reign  of  Edward  III.  The  Earl  of  Desmond 
was  there ;  so  also  were  Lords  Barry,  Roche, 
FitzMaurice,  and  many  other  of  the  "degenerate 
English."  Even  the  "mere  Irish"  were  not 
wholly  unrepresented.  McGillapatrick,  re- 
cently ennobled  as  Baron  of  Upper  Ossory, 
took  his  seat  among  the  peers.  "The  great 
O'Brien"  was  represented  by  two  "proctors." 
MacWilliam,  Donough  O'Brien,  MacMurrough, 
O'Moore,  O'Reilly,  and  O'Neil  of  Clandeboye 
were  present  in  person.  None  of  these  chief- 
tains, except  McGillapatrick,  had  as  yet 
received  peerages,  but  all  gave  their  "  liberal 
consents  "  to  the  act  which  constituted  Henrv 
King  of  Ireland. 

On    Friday,   June    17th,    the     Speaker,     Sir 

lying  out  of  the  limits  of  counties,  could  send  no  knights,  and, 
having  neither  cities  nor  boroughs  in  them,  could  send  no 
burgesses  to  the  parliament ;  besides  that  the  state  did  not  hold 
them  fit  to  be  trusted  with  the  counsel  of  the  realm." — Speech 
of  Sir  John  Davies  in  1613. 

246 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

Thomas  Cusack,  pronounced  a  panegyric  on 
Henry,  which  was  answered,  on  behalf  of  the 
peers,  by  the  Chancellor,  both  speeches  being 
translated  into  Irish  by  Ormond  to  the  "  great 
contentation  "  of  the  native  chieftains.  The 
bill  for  the  alteration  of  the  royal  title  was  then 
introduced  in  the  House  of  Lords  and  carried 
unanimously.  On  the  same  day  it  was  sent 
down  to  the  Lower  House,  "  where  it  likewise 
passed  with  no  less  joy  and  gladness."  On  the 
Saturday  the  Lord  Deputy  pronounced  the  royal 
assent.  There  is  no  other  instance  in  history  in 
which  a  measure  of  such  transcendent  import- 
ance has  been  passed  with  such  amazing 
rapidity.  A  few  less  important  bills  were 
then  passed,  and  the  parliament  was  prorogued 
till  November.^ 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  in 
Ireland  the  statesman  who  had  saved  the 
English  colony  five  years  earlier  was  experi- 
encing the  ingratitude  of  princes.  After 
languishing  in  prison  for  more  than  a  year 
Lord  Leonard  Gray  was  brought  to  trial  on 
a  charge  of  high  treason.  With  the  accusa- 
tions against  him  the  reader  is  already  familiar. 
It  was  said  that  he  had  connived  at  the  escape 

^  St.  Leger  to  Henry,  June  26.  Lord  Deputy  and  Council 
to  Henry,  June  28.  List  of  Irish  Bishops  and  Peers  present 
at  the  passing  of  the  Act  for  the  King's  style,  enclosed  in  the 
preceding.  The  statements  in  the  list  and  in  the  accompanying 
letter  do  not  tally.  The  Act  touching  the  King's  style  is  33 
Henry  VIII,  c.  i. 

247 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

of  his  nephew  ;  that  he  had  corresponded  with 
Cardinal  Pole  and  other  "traitors";  that  he  had 
shown  favour  to  the  King's  enemies ;  that  he 
had  allowed  Irishmen  to  rob  and  spoil  the 
King's  subjects.  The  indictment  consisted  of 
ninety  counts,  and  of  these  five  of  the  most 
serious  were  considered  by  the  Council  to  have 
been  established.^  The  trial,  like  every  State 
trial  of  that  age,  was  an  infamous  mockery  of 
justice.     The  prisoner  was  allowed  no  counsel, 

^  Articles  against  Lord  Leonard  Gray,  October  28,  1540. 
"  It  was  agreed  after  long  and  mature  consultation  that  the 
Lord  Leonard  Gray,  late  the  King's  Deputy  in  Ireland,  being 
led  by  the  affection  which  he  bare  to  the  Geraldines,  by  reason 
of  the  marriage  between  his  sister  and  the  late  Earl  of  Kildare, 
had  done  and  committed  such  heinous  offences  against  the 
King's  Majesty,  and  especially  in  the  five  points  following : — 
(i)  The  entertaining  of  Margaret  O'Conor,  O'Moore's  sons, 
Prior  Walsh  and  his  brother,  knowing  the  same  to  be  the 
King's  rebels,  traitors  and  enemies,  and  that  before  they  had 
any  pardon.  (2)  The  setting  up  of  Fergananym  [O'Carroll] 
the  King's  enemy,  and  the  destruction  of  Maguire,  the 
King's  friend.  (3)  The  setting  at  large  of  Tybalt  FitzPiers 
FitzGerald  and  the  Dean  of  Derry,  being  the  King's  subjects 
and  committed  by  the  Council  to  ward  upon  heinous  point  of 
treason.  (4)  The  procuring  and  maintenance  of  O'Moore's 
sons  to  rob  and  spoil  the  King's  subjects.  (5)  The  entertaining 
of  Edmund  Ashbold,  after  that  he  knew  that  the  said  Edmund 
was  indicted  of  treason."  Wriothesley  then  informed  the 
prisoner  "that  he  was  in  great  danger,  except  the  King's 
Highness  would  extend  his  mercy  unto  him." — Proceedings  of 
the  Privy  Council^  VII,  91-92,  and  preface,  p.  lix.  This  is  the 
only  official  report  of  the  proceedings  against  Lord  Leonard 
Gray.  The  account  in  Cobbett's  State  Trials^  I,  439-444, 
derived  from  Stanihurst  and  Cox  is  quite  inaccurate  and 
untrustworthy. 

248 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

and  to  bring  witnesses  from  so  great  a  distance 
was  impossible.  The  unfortunate  nobleman 
realized  the  hopelessness  of  his  position  and 
pleaded  guilty,  on  the  promise,  it  is  said,  of  a 
mercy  which  was  not  extended  to  him.  On 
June  28th  he  suffered  on  Tower  Hill.  Cromwell, 
the  chief  author  of  his  ruin,  had  preceded  him 
to  the  scaffold.^ 

Most  of  the  southern  chiefs  had  now  sub- 
mitted ;  but  O'Neil,  O'Donel  and  a  few  other 
of  the  northern  potentates  still  held  aloof.  The 
first  continued  to  reject  all  overtures  ;  but 
O'Donel  expressed  a  wish  to  negotiate  ;  and 
on  August  6th  the  Lord  Deputy,  accompanied 
by  Staples,  Brabazon  and  Travers,  set  out  to 
meet  him  at  Cavan.  Ulster,  the  richest, 
strongest,  and  most  intensely  Irish  of  the  four 
provinces,  had  suffered  less  than  any  other  part 
of  the  island  from  English  invasions  ;  and  the 
Ulster  lords  were  in  manners  and  accomplish- 
ments immeasurably  superior  to  those  of  the 
three  southern  provinces.  At  his  first  interview 
with  O'Donel  the  Lord  Deputy  could  scarcely 
conceal  his  amazement.  He  had  expected  to 
find  a  half-naked  barbarian  of  the  same  type  as 
Turlough  O'Toole  ;  he  was  confronted  instead 
by  an  elegant,  somewhat  foppish  gentleman, 
magnificently  attired  in  crimson  velvet,  and 
attended  by  his  chaplain,  "  a  right  sober  young 

^  Cromwell  was  arrested  on  June  10  and  executed  on  July 
28,  1540.— 5/a/^  Trials,  I,  433-439- 

249 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

man,  well  learned,"  who  had  been  brought  up 
in  France.  O'Donel  was  sensible  that  he  had 
made  a  good  impression,  and  spared  no  pains  to 
improve  it.  He  "  rejoiced  much  "  that  Henry- 
had  assumed  the  title  of  King  of  Ireland  ;  ex- 
pressed a  wish  to  "  conform  to  the  obedience  of 
his  Highness,  and  to  the  civil  order  of  the 
realm  "  ;  and  was  loud  in  condemnation  of  the 
"  lewd  and  ill  behaviour  "  of  his  brother-in-law, 
"  saying,  like  a  very  earnest  man,  that  the  same 
was  not  to  be  suffered  any  longer."  Neverthe- 
less, "forasmuch  as  the  same  O'Neil  and  he  had 
been  heretofore  friends,"  he  entreated  St.  Leger 
to  write  once  more  to  the  latter  before  proceed- 
ing to  extremities  against  him.  A  treaty  was 
then  concluded,  of  which  the  most  important 
provisions  were  as  follows  : 

(i)  O'Donel  recognised  Henry  as  his  legiti- 
mate lord  and  king. 

(2)  He  promised  not  to  adhere  to  or  con- 
federate with  any  of  the  King's  enemies  or  rebels. 

(3)  He  renounced  the  usurped  primacy  and 
authority  of  the  Roman  pontiff. 

(4)  He  undertook  to  attend  the  Deputy  to 
hostings  with  a  force  of  sixty  horsemen,  one 
hundred  and  twenty  kerne,  and  as  many  gallow- 
glasses. 

(5)  He  promised  to  be  present  in  his  own 
person  at  the  next  parliament  which  should  be 
held  in  Ireland,  or  to  send  some  discreet  and 
honourable  gentleman  to  represent  him. 

250 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

(6)  He  undertook  faithfully  to  perform  the 
articles  contained  in  the  King's  letters. 

(7)  He  agreed  to  hold  his  lands  of  the  crown, 
with  whatever  name  of  honour  and  dignity  the 
King  might  be  pleased  to  confer  upon  him. 

(8)  He  promised,  as  a  pledge  of  his  fidelity, 
to  send  one  of  his  sons  into  England,  to  be 
educated  in  the  English  manners. 

(9)  The  Lord  Deputy  and  Council,  on  their 
side,  agreed  to  aid,  cherish  and  protect  O'Donel 
and  his  heirs  against  all  who  should  seek  to 
injure  them,  or  to  invade  their  country/ 

Lady  Eleanor,  who  had  left  her  husband  and 
taken  refuge  at  her  son's  castle  of  Carbery,  con- 
tinued to  hurl  defiance  at  the  government,  and  it 
was  not  until  three  years  later  that  she  con- 
descended to  accept  a  pardon." 

O'Neil  was  now  the  only  Irishman  of  note 
who  had  not  submitted  ;  and  on  September  1 5th 
a  hosting  was  proclaimed  against  him.  St.  Leger, 
with  the  forces  of  the  Pale,  entered  Tyrone  on 
the  south  side,  while  O'Donel,  O'Reilly,  and 
the  rest  of  the  Lord  Deputy's  Irish  allies  invaded 
their  late  confederate  from  the  west.  The 
campaign  was  protracted  until  the  middle  of 
December,  when  O'Neil  submitted.  "The 
winter  war  was  the  destruction  of  Irishmen  "; 
but  the    victors    on    the   whole    suffered    more 

^  St.   Leger  to  Henry,  August  29,   1541.     Submission  of 
Manus  O'Donel,  August  6,  enclosed  in  the  preceding. 
^  Lady  Eleanor  O'Donel  to  Henry,  May  4,  1545. 

251 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

than  the  vanquished.  From  Armagh  to  the 
English  frontier — a  distance  of  four  and  twenty 
miles — the  entire  country  was  a  wilderness. 
Not  a  house  nor  a  ploughed  field  was  to  be 
seen  ;  the  troops  could  obtain  no  food,  save 
what  they  brought  with  them  out  of  the  Pale  ; 
they  slept  on  the  bare  ground,  "  without  tents 
or  other  succour  of  housing,  the  weather  being 
cold  and  very  foul";  and  the  mortality  both 
among  men  and  horses  was  terrible.  To  the 
north  lay  an  impenetrable  maze  of  lakes,  bogs 
and  forests,  behind  which  the  O'Neils  shut 
themselves  up  with  their  cattle,  and  through 
which  the  invaders  were  unable  to  pursue  them. 
A  few  cows  were  taken  ;  but  the  success  was  a 
poor  compensation  for  the  hardships  of  the 
campaign.  The  Englishry  "  were  brought  to 
such  a  case  that  they  could  no  longer  bear  the 
charges,"  for  corn  was  scarce  even  in  the  Pale  ; 
and  the  Lord  Deputy  snatched  eagerly  at  the 
first  suggestion  of  submission.^ 

On  December  26th  the  preliminaries  of  peace 
were  signed.  O'Neil  acknowledged  Henry  to 
be  his  most  serene  Lord  and  King,  and  promised 
to  be  a  faithful  subject  to  him  and  to  his  heirs 
for  ever.  He  renounced  the  usurped  authority 
of  the  Roman  pontiff  ;  recognized  the  King  as 
supreme  head  of  the  Church,  and  promised  to 
compel  all  persons  dwelling  beneath  his  rule  to 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry,  September  23.  St. 
Leger  to  Henry,  December  17. 

252 


THE    KINGDOM    OF   IRELAND 

do  the  same,  and,  in  particular,  to  force  all  pro- 
visors  to  surrender  their  bulls,  and  to  submit 
themselves  to  the  ordinance  of  his  Majesty. 
He  confessed  that  he  had  offended  his  Majesty, 
and  prayed  for  pardon  and  pity.  He  most 
humbly  entreated  that  the  King  would  be 
pleased  to  accept  and  consider  him  as  one  of 
his  most  faithful  subjects.  He  offered  to  obey 
the  King's  laws,  in  like  manner  as  the  Earl  of 
Ormond  and  Desmond  and  other  noblemen  of 
the  land  ;  and  requested  to  be  created  Earl  of 
Ulster,  and  to  hold  his  lands  of  the  crown.  He 
humbly  entreated  that  the  King  would  grant 
him  the  lands  aforesaid,  with  the  same  authority 
over  all  whom  his  Majesty  should  assign  to 
him  as  the  Earls  of  Ormond  and  Desmond 
enjoyed  in  their  respective  countries.  He 
agreed  to  attend  the  great  councils  called  par- 
liaments ;  nevertheless  he  desired,  on  account 
of  the  expense  and  danger  of  the  journey,  to  be 
excused  from  attending  any  parliament  which 
should  meet  south  of  the  river  Barrow.  He 
promised  to  suffer  Phelim  Roe  O'Neil,  Neil 
Connelagh  and  Hugh  O'Neil  to  retain  possession 
of  all  lands  rightly  and  lawfully  belonging  to 
them.  He  renounced  the  black  rent  which  he 
had  been  accustomed  to  receive  from  the  English 
of  Uriel  ;  but  asked  for  some  stipend  or  salary 
whereby  he  might  be  the  better  enabled  to 
serve  his  Majesty.  He  promised  to  attend  the 
King's  Deputy  to  hostings  with  such  number  of 

253 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

horsemen,  kerne  and  gallowglasses  as  the  said 
Deputy  should  approve.  He  was  willing  that 
all  such  Irishmen  as  were  then  upon  the  King's 
peace  should  remain  so  until  the  King's  pleasure 
should  be  further  known  ;  stipulating  on  his 
side,  that  those  who  were  then  upon  his  peace 
should  remain  on  the  same.  He  promised  to 
cut  passes  through  the  woods  between  his  own 
country  and  the  Pale,  so  that  the  Lord  Deputy 
might  have  free  access  to  him  and  he  to  the 
Deputy.  Lastly  he  undertook  to  rebuild  the 
parish  churches  in  his  country,  which  were  all 
in  ruins,  "  in  order  that  divine  service  might  be 
once  more  celebrated,  and  the  ignorant  people 
instructed  in  their  duty  towards  God  and  the 
King.'" 

The  Council  forwarded  these  articles  to 
Henry,  and  earnestly  advised  him  to  agree  to 
them.  They  would  have  liked  to  exact  harder 
terms,  but  the  cost  of  the  war,  the  sufferings  of 
the  troops,  and  the  difficulty  of  permanently 
keeping  possession  of  a  waste  country  had  all  to 
be  considered.  Although  many  of  the  lesser 
chiefs  had  submitted  their  allegiance  was  doubt- 
ful, and  a  single  reverse  might  set  the  whole 
kingdom  in  a  blaze.  On  the  other  hand  even 
if  O'Neil  should  be  destroyed — and  this  would 
not  be  at  all  easy — some  other  Irishmen,  "  as 
evil  as  the  said  O'Neil  and   his,"  would  occupy 

'  Articuli  quibus  teneor  ego  Connatius  O'Neil ;  December 
26,  1541. 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

Tyrowen,  and  the  country  would  be  "  in  as  evil 
case  as  before,  and  rather  worse."  There  was 
nothing  for  it  but  to  make  the  best  of  a  bad 
business,  and  to  be  content  with  a  formal  recog- 
nition of  the  royal  supremacy  and  a  promise  to 
attend  the  Deputy  to  hostings.^  The  King  was 
bitterly  offended  by  this  letter,  but,  after  a  good 
deal  of  grumbling,  he  agreed  to  the  greater  part 
of  O'Neil's  demands.  On  one  point  only  was 
his  Majesty  inflexible.  The  earldom  of  Ulster 
had  originally  been  granted  to  the  De  Burghs, 
from  whom  it  had  passed  to  the  Mortimers,  and 
thence,  in  the  person  of  Edward  IV,  to  the 
crown,  and  Henry  stubbornly  refused  to  part 
with  it.  He  expressed  his  amazement  that 
O'Neil,  who  had  so  often  and  so  grievously 
offended,  should  demand  "  the  name  and  honour 
of  Ulster,  being  one  of  the  greatest  earldoms 
of  Christendom  and  our  own  proper  inheri- 
tance," and  that  the  Council,  on  whose  truth 
and  wisdom  he  had  been  accustomed  to  rely, 
should  "  so  slenderly  weigh  the  said  O'Neil's 
desire  as  to  be  induced  to  seem  to  take  it  as 
a  thing  reasonable,  and  to  signify  your  opinion 
to  us  concerning  the  advancement  of  the  same."^ 
This  reproof  was  not  without  its  effect  on  the 
Council,  and  they  were  careful  not  to  repeat 
their  error,  for  when,  a  few  months  later, 
MacWilliam   petitioned   to   be  created   Earl  of 

^  The  Council  to  Henry,  December,  1541. 

^  Henry  to  the  Lord  Deputy  and  Council,  April  14,  1542, 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

Connaught,  they  reminded  Henry  that  Con- 
naught  was  the  fifth  part  of  Ireland,  and 
MacWilHam  was  forced  to  content  himself 
with  the  less  ambitious  title  of  Clanricarde/ 

After  some  further  negotiations  O'Neil  was 
persuaded  to  withdraw,  and  even  to  apologize 
for  his  request ;  he  offered  to  accept  whatever 
name  the  King  might  be  disposed  to  confer 
upon  him,  and  he  was  eventually  raised  to  the 
peerage  by  the  titles  of  Earl  of  Tyrone  and 
Baron  of  Dungannon.^ 

The  parliament,  which  had  been  adjourned  in 
July,  met  again  in  Dublin  on  December  22nd, 
and,  after  sitting  for  a  few  days,  was  once  more 
prorogued  until  February  1 3th,  when  it  reas- 
1542  sembled  at  Limerick.  O'Brien,  who  during 
the  earlier  sessions  had  been  represented  by  his 
proctors,  now  appeared  in  person  and  made  a 
complete  submission.  He  renounced  the  black 
rent  of  ^^80  sterling  which  he  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  exact  from  the  people  of  Limerick, 
"  whereof  the  poor  inhabitants,  both  gentlemen 
and  others,  much  rejoice,"  and  he  agreed  to 
cede  Onaugh,  a  strip  of  land  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Shannon  which  had  enabled  him  to  pil- 
lage Munster  from  Limerick  to  Cashel.  In 
return  he  asked  for  a  grant  of  all  abbeys  and 
priories    in   Thomond,  and  ^to   this    St.    Leger 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry,  May  15,  1543. 
-  Henry    to    the    Lord   Deputy   and    Council,  October  8, 
1542. 

256 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

consented,  telling  Henry  that  "  the  same  were 
of  very  small  value,"  and  that  the  O'Briens,  on 
their  side,  had  released  to  the  crown  many 
benefices  which  they  had  usurped  and  suffered 
horsemen  and  kerne  to  enjoy/  O'Brien  further 
demanded  a  pardon  for  himself  and  his  clans- 
men, and  a  confirmation  to  him  and  to  his 
heirs  male  of  all  "  lands,  rents,  reversions,  and 
services "  formerly  enjoyed  by  himself  or  his 
ancestors  in  Thomond.  He  desired  that  the 
laws  of  England  should  be  executed  in  Thomond, 
"  and  the  naughty  laws  and  customs  of  that 
country  clearly  put  away  for  ever;"  that  bas- 
tards should  thenceforth  inherit  no  lands,  and 
that  "  some  well  learned  Irishmen,  brought  up 
in  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge, 
not  being  infected  with  the  poison  of  the  Bishop 
of  Rome,  should  be  sent  to  preach  the  Word  of 
God  in  Ireland."  He  was  willing  to  attend 
parliament,  but  asked  for  "  some  place  of  small 
value  near  Dublin  "  for  the  accommodation  of 
his  retinue  when  he  should  be  summoned  to  the 
capital.^ 

But  a  curious  difficulty  now  arose.  The 
King  insisted  that,  if  O'Brien  was  to  attend 
parliament,  he  must  accept  a  peerage,  "for  it 
can  neither  stand  with  our  honour,  nor  with 
the  state  of  our  parliament,  to  have  any  man 
placed  there  as  a  peer,  but  he  have  indeed  the 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry,  March  31,  1542. 
^  The  Irishmen's  requests.      O'Brien,  May,  1543. 

257  S 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

estate  of  a  peer,  by  the  right  course  and  order  of 
our  laws"  :  and  Murrough  himself  was  eager  to 
be  created  Earl  of  Thomond  :  but  the  Council 
were  of  opinion  "that  that  grant  could  not 
proceed  without  the  great  detriment  and  dis- 
paragement of  Donough  O'Brien,  who  very 
honestly  served  your  Majesty  in  the  rebellion 
time."  Murrough,  it  will  be  remembered,  had 
succeeded  his  brother  Connor,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  country,  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
latter's  son  Donough  ;  and  Donough,  of  course, 
protested  vehemently  against  an  arrangement 
which  threatened  to  exclude  him  permanently 
from  the  succession.  Eventually  a  compromise 
was  agreed  upon.  It  was  decided  that  Murrough 
should  be  created  Earl  of  Thomond  and  Baron 
of  Inchiquin  :  the  latter  title  to  descend  to  his 
posterity  in  the  usual  fashion,  the  former  to 
revert  on  his  death  to  the  elder  branch  of  the 
family.  Donough  meanwhile  was  raised  to  the 
peerage  as  Baron  of  Ibrackin,  and  the  same 
patent  secured  to  him  the  succession  to  the 
earldom  upon  the  death  of  his  uncle.^ 

On  May  19th  O'Neil  ratified  his  submission, 
and  with  his  surrender  the  national  resistance 
terminated.  One  after  another  the  lesser  chiefs 
submitted.  The  O'Moores  of  Leix  came  in, 
and    the    O'Byrnes    of    Wicklow,    and    Hugh 

^  Henry  to  the  Lord  Deputy  and  Council,  March  31. 
Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry,  June  2,  1542.  Henry 
to  the  Lord  Deputy  and  Council,  July  9,  1543. 

258 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

O'Kelly,  chief  captain  of  his  nation  and  heredi- 
tary Abbot  of  Knockmoy,  and  McMahon  of 
Uriel,  and  O'Rourke  of  BrefFny,  and  McDonel, 
the  captain  of  O'Neil's  gallowglasses,  and 
McQuilHn,  the  chief  of  a  Norman- Welsh  clan 
which  had  settled  in  the  Route  and  become  "as 
Irish  as  the  worst."  It  would  be  tedious  to 
rehearse  the  terms  of  these  several  submissions. 
All  the  chiefs  acknowledged  Henry  to  be  their 
sovereign,  and  renounced  the  Pope  with  a 
fervour  which  might  have  satisfied  a  modern 
Orangeman.  All  agreed  to  hold  their  lands  by 
knight's  service.  All  promised  to  attend  the 
Deputy  to  hostings  with  a  number  of  horsemen, 
gallowglasses  and  kerne  proportioned  to  the  size 
of  their  territories,  and  gave  hostages  for  the 
fulfilment  of  their  engagements.  The  O'Byrnes 
apologized  for  having  lived  as  "wood-kerne  and 
wild  Irishmen,"  and  begged  that  their  country 
might  be  made  shireland  by  the  name  of  the 
county  of  Wicklow.  O'Rourke  offered  to 
attend  parliament,  and  petitioned  to  be  created 
Viscount  Dromaher.  The  Abbot  of  Knockmoy 
surrendered  his  monastery,  and,  to  complete  the 
scandal,  gave  his  son  as  a  hostage.  St.  Leger 
had  gifts  for  some  and  fair  words  for  all,  being 
anxious  above  all  things  to  save  money,  and 
convinced  that  it  was  cheaper  to  conciliate  the 
Irish  than  to  exterminate  them.^ 

1  Carew  MSS. 
259 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

O'Neil,  one  of  the  last  to  submit,  was  the 
first  to  reap  the  fruits  of  submission.  At  the 
beginning  of  September  he  sailed  for  England ; 
on  the  twenty-fourth  of  the  same  month  he 
made  a  third  and  final  submission  at  Greenwich,^ 
and  on  October  ist  the  promised  earldom  was 
conferred.  Con  was  the  first  of  his  race  who 
had  ever  visited  England,  and  no  ceremony  was 
omitted  which  could  lend  dignity  to  his  investi- 
ture. After  a  solemn  mass  O'Neil  was  conducted 
to  the  Queen's  closet,  which  was  "  richly 
hanged  with  cloth  of  arras  and  well  strewed 
with  rushes" — such  was  the  utmost  magnifi- 
cence which  was  then  to  be  found  even  in  the 
courts  of  princes — and  there  attired  in  the  robes 
which  Henry  had  purchased  for  him.  The 
King,  meanwhile,  took  his  seat  under  the  cloth 
of  state,  "  with  all  his  noble  council,  and  other 
noble  persons  of  his  realm  as  well  spiritual  as 
temporal."  It  was  customary  for  a  new  peer  to 
be  introduced  into  the  royal  presence  by  two 
others  of  the  same  rank,  and  Edward  Seymour, 
Earl  of  Hertford,  and  Aubrey  de  Vere,  Earl  of 
Oxford — the  one  the  brother-in-law  of  the 
King,  and,  since  the  death  of  Cromwell,  the 
most  powerful  subject  in  the  kingdom ;  the 
other  the  head  of  the  noblest  family  in  England — 
were  appointed  to  act  as  O'Neil's  sponsors. 
Accompanied   by   these   illustrious    persons    the 

•^  Submission  of  O'Neil,  September  24,  1542.  Printed  in 
black  letter  by  Richard  Lant. 

260 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

new  Earl  entered,  his  sword  being  borne  before 
him  by  John  Dudley,  Viscount  Lisle,  afterwards 
the  famous  or  infamous  Duke  of  Northum- 
berland. The  letters  patent  were  then  delivered 
by  Garter  to  the  Lord  Chamberlain,  and  by  the 
Lord  Chamberlain  to  the  King,  who  gave  them 
to  Secretary  Wriothesley  to  read  aloud.  "  And 
when  he  came  to  cincturam  gladii  the  Viscount 
Lisle  presented  to  the  King  the  sword,  and  the 
King  girded  the  said  sword  about  the  said  Earl 
baldrick-wise,  the  foresaid  Earl  kneeling,  and 
the  other  lords  standing  that  lead  him.  And  so 
the  patent  read  out  the  King's  Majesty  put 
about  his  neck  a  chain  of  gold,  with  a  cross 
hanging  at  it,  and  took  him  his  letters  patent, 
and  he  gave  thanks  unto  him  in  his  language, 
and  a  priest  made  answer  of  his  saying  in 
English.  And  there  the  King  made  two  of  the 
men  that  came  with  him  knights.  And  so  the 
Earls  in  order  aforesaid  took  their  leave  of  the 
King's  Highness,  and  departed  unto  the  place 
appointed  for  their  dinners,  the  Earl  of  Tyrone 
bearing  his  letters  patent  in  his  hands,  the 
trumpets  blowing  before  him  unto  the  chamber, 
which  was  the  Lord  Great  Master's  under  the 
King's  lodging.  And  so  they  sat  at  dinner. 
At  the  second  course  Garter  proclaimed  the 
King's  style,  and  after  the  said  new  Earl's  in 
manner  following:  'Du  tres  hault  et  puissant 
Seigneur  Con  O'Neil,  Comte  de  Tyrone,  Seigneur 
de    Dungannon,  du   royaulme  d'Irlande.'      The 

261 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

King's  Majesty  gave  him  his  robes  of  estate  and 
all  things  belonging  thereunto,  and  paid  all 
manner  of  duties  belonging  to  the  same,"  ^ 

In  the  following  year  Murrough  O'Brien, 
Earl  of  Thomond,  Ulick  Burke,  Earl  of  Clan- 
1543  ricarde,  and  Donough  O'Brien,  Lord  Ibrackin 
visited  Henry;  were  received  with  equal  gra- 
ciousness,  and  were  invested  with  their  peerages 
with  the  same  ceremonies.  To  each  of  the 
three  new  peers,  and  to  the  Baron  of  Upper 
Ossory,  who  had  accompanied  them  to  England, 
the  King,  in  accordance  with  O'Brien's  sugges- 
tion, granted  a  "  house  and  piece  of  land  near 
Dublin,"  for  the  accommodation  of  their  horses 
and  servants  if  they  should  attend  parliament, 
and  St.  Leger  was  directed  to  make  similar 
grants  to  the  Earls  of  Tyrone  and  Desmond.^ 
Several   other   chieftains   were    recommended 

^  Creation  of  Con  O'Neil,  Ead  of  Tyrone.  Cotton  MSS.^ 
Titusy  b.  xi,  209.  An  abridged  version  of  this  document  will 
be  found  in  the  Carew  MSS.  Tyrone's  patent  is  in  Ryiner, 
XV,  7,  where  it  is  wrongly  dated  September  i,  1543.  Henry 
seems  to  have  been  much  impressed  by  his  own  generosity. 
"  We  gave  unto  him  a  chain  of  three  score  pounds  and  odd ; 
we  paid  for  his  robes  and  the  charges  of  his  creation  three 
score  and  five  pounds  ten  shillings  and  twopence,  and  we  gave 
him  in  ready  money  one  hundred  pounds  sterling." — Henry  to 
the  Lord  Deputy  and  Council,  October  8. 

^  Creation  of  Murrough  O'Brien,  Earl  of  Thomond  ;  Ulick 
Burke,  Earl  of  Clanricarde ;  and  Donough  O'Brien,  Baron  of 
Ibrackin.  Cotton  MSS.,  Titus,  h.  xi,  210.  Henry  to  the 
Lord  Deputy  and  Council,  July  9,  1543.  The  patents  are 
in  Rymer,  XIV,  797-801. 

262 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

by  the  Lord  Deputy  for  honours  of  the  peerage. 
Thus,  Manus  O'Donel  petitioned  for  an  earl- 
dom ;  but,  although  the  request  was  warmly 
seconded  by  St.  Leger  and  fully  approved  by  the 
king,  it  was  not  until  sixty  years  later  that  the 
coveted  honour  was  bestowed  upon  his  grandson. 
The  delay  was  perhaps  due  in  this  instance  to  a 
disagreement  as  to  the  style  of  the  future  earl ; 
O'Donel  himself  made  suit  to  be  created  Earl 
of  Sligo  ;  the  king,  who  was  willing  enough 
that  he  should  be  made  Earl  of  Tyrconnel,  may 
have  hesitated  to  grant  a  title  which  seemed 
to  recognize  his  claim  to  supremacy  in  Lower 
Connaught.^  It  is  less  easy  to  understand  for 
what  reasons  O'Rourke,  O'Reilly,  and  O'Conor 
Paly,  upon  whom  St.  Leger,  with  the  full  con- 
currence of  Henry,  proposed  to  confer  the  titles 
of  Viscount  Dromaher,  Viscount  Cavan,  and 
Baron  Offaly  respectively,  did  not  receive  their 
patents.^  Possibly  the  chiefs  themselves  may 
have  been  unwilling,  on  further  reflection,  to 
accept  a  dignity  which  would  have  involved 
attendance  in  parliament  ;  or  difficulties  may 
have  arisen  owing  to  the  claims  of  the  tanists. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause  it  does 
not    appear — except     perhaps    in    the    case    of 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry,  August  28,  1541. 
Henry  to  Lord  Deputy  and  Council,  September  23. 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Henry,  June  28  ;  August  28, 
1 54 1.  Henry  to  Lord  Deputy  and  Council,  September  8; 
September  23.  For  O'Rourke,  see  the  Indenture  of  September 
1,  1542  {Carevu  MSS.). 

263 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

O'Conor — to  have  affected  the  cordiality  of 
their  relations  with  the  government,  and  the 
last  four  years  of  Henry's  reign  were  a  time  of 
unprecedented  tranquillity.  To  contemporary 
statesmen,  who  seldom  cared  to  look  beneath 
the  surface,  it  seemed  that  the  problem  of  Irish 
government  had  been  solved  for  ever.  By  Irish 
writers  of  a  later  age,  looking  back  across  the 
calamities  of  the  next  three  reigns,  the  years  of 
St.  Leger's  administration  have  been  described 
as  a  golden  age,  a  time  of  happiness  too  early 
terminated  by  the  reckless  innovations  of  the 
Protectorate. 

And  yet  it  was  during  those  years  that  the 
seeds  of  the  subsequent  disasters  were  most 
abundantly  sown.  The  success  of  Henry's  policy 
was  apparent  only  ;  the  delusion  was  based  upon 
a  radical  misunderstanding  of  the  political  situa- 
tion. The  chiefs,  it  is  true,  had  every  reason 
to  feel  satisfied  with  the  new  arrangements. 
By  surrendering  their  lands  to  the  crown,  and 
receiving  them  again  by  English  tenure,  they 
had  at  once  increased  their  power  over  their 
clansmen,  and  secured  the  succession  to  their 
children,  to  the  exclusion  of  their  collateral 
heirs. ^      If  some  of  the  more  ambitious  among 

^  "  Then  should  their  natural  children  succeed  in  their 
possessions  by  inheritance,  otherwise  than  hath  been  used  ever 
hitherto,  where  their  children  never  inherited  their  lands,  but, 
after  the  decease  of  their  fathers,  their  children  remained  in 
misery  and  a  tanist  should  succeed  ;  which  commutation  of 
natural  affection  should  incline  them  to  good  order,  for  their 

264 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

them  were  disposed  to  chafe  at  the  loss  of  their 
independence,  they  could  console  themselves 
with  the  thought  that  the  crown  was  pledged 
to  defend  them  against  their  rivals  or  neighbours, 
and  that,  so  long  as  they  made  an  outward  pro- 
fession of  allegiance,  the  Dublin  government 
was  not  likely  to  interfere  with  them.  If  they 
got  tired  of  their  bargain  it  was  always  open  to 
them  to  renew  the  struggle.  The  case  of  the 
common  people  was  very  different.  The  devo- 
tion of  the  Irish  kerne  to  the  head  of  his  clan 
was  very  real,  but  it  had  its  limits.  By  the  law 
of  gavelkind  the  peasant  was  a  joint  owner  with 
his  chief;  by  the  law  of  tanistry,  he  had  a  voice 
in  the  election  of  that  chief's  successor.'  He 
had  nothing  to  gain,  or  rather  everything  to 
lose,  by  an  arrangement  which  deprived  him  at 
once  of  his  share  of  the  tribal  lands,  and  of  his 
right  to  choose  his  own  rulers  ;  and,  if  he  did 
not  at  once  protest  against  it,  it  was  because,  in 
ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred,  he  was  com- 
pletely ignorant  of  it.  The  results  of  Henry's 
policy  may  be  summed  up  in  one  sentence  :  he 
had  created  Irish  landlordism.  Before  his  time 
landlordism,  in  the  modern  sense,  can  scarcely 
be  said  to  have  existed  outside  the  Pale.    In  the 

ease    and    profit,   and    specially   for    the   promotion    of   their 
children." — Cowley's  Plan   for   the  Reformation   of  Ireland, 
November,  1541.      Cf.  "Questions  to  be  considered  touching 
Shane  O'Neil,"  1560  {Carew  MSS.). 
^  See  suproy  ch.  i. 

265 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

Irish  districts  the  land  was  the  common  property 
of  the  tribe  ;  even  in  those  parts  of  Leinster  and 
Munster  in  which  the  custom  of  gavelkind  did 
not  exist,  the  force  of  public  opinion  made 
arbitrary  eviction  all  but  impossible.  It  cannot 
be  said  that  the  institution  has  proved  an  un- 
mixed blessing  to  Ireland. 

The  attempt  to  substitute  English  for  Irish 
tenures  was  undoubtedly  the  chief  cause  of 
the  disasters  that  followed.  But  other  causes 
co-operated.  The  abolition  of  tanistry  and 
gavelkind  was  only  a  part,  although  a  very 
important  part,  of  the  general  policy  of  re- 
forming Ireland  by  the  obliteration  of  all 
national  characteristics.  In  the  fourteenth 
century,  if  not  earlier,  the  tendency  of  the 
colonists  to  amalgamate  with  the  native  popu- 
lation had  attracted  the  notice  of  the  legisla- 
ture, and  numerous  acts  of  parliament  had 
been  passed  to  prevent  it.  Intermarriage  and 
fostering  between  the  races  were  prohibited. 
"The  King's  subjects"  were  forbidden  to  ride, 
dress  or  wear  their  hair  in  the  Irish  fashion. 
Severe  penalties  were  denounced  against  Irish 
bards  ;  and  native  clergymen  were  jealously 
excluded  from  ecclesiastical  preferment.^  By 
writers  imperfectly  acquainted  with  the  con- 
stitutional phraseology  of  the  period,  this 
legislation    has    sometimes    been    described     as 

^  Hardiman's  Statute  of  Kilkenny^  pasiim. 
266 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

an  attempt  to  compel  the  adoption  of  English 
usages  by  the  mere  Irish.  The  actual  purpose 
of  the  legislators  was  very  different.  Far  from 
seeking  to  anglicize  the  native  population,  they 
aimed  rather  at  the  erection  of  an  impassable 
barrier  between  the  two  races,  intending,  it  is 
said,  that  the  English  should  eventually  "root 
out  "  the  Irish.  It  cannot  be  said  that  this 
policy  had  been  very  successful  ;  but,  so  long 
as  the  English  government  was  confined  to  the 
four  shires  and  did  not  pretend  to  exercise 
authority  in  the  native  districts,  it  was  at  least 
intelligible.  But,  with  the  submission  of  the 
chieftains  and  the  assumption  by  Henry  of  the 
title  of  King  of  Ireland,  the  constitutional  rela- 
tions between  the  two  races  entered  on  a  new 
phase.  Hitherto  the  government  had,  in  theory 
at  least,  ignored  the  Celtic  population,  who 
neither  acknowledged  the  authority  of  the  law 
nor  enjoyed  its  protection.  But  from  the  day 
when  Henry  recognized  the  Celtic  chiefs  as 
his  subjects,  he  was  compelled  to  decide  what 
policy  he  would  adopt  towards  them.  There 
were  two  courses  open  to  him  :  to  recognize 
that  the  population  was  by  no  means  homo- 
geneous, and  that  it  would  be  wise  for  a  time, 
at  least,  to  tolerate  a  considerable  diversity  of 
usages  ;  or  to  extend  the  existing  law  to  the 
Irish  districts,  and  to  govern  Ireland  as  his  pre- 
decessors had  governed  the  Pale.  It  is  easy,  in 
the  light  of  later  history,  to  see  that  the  former 

267 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

policy  was  the  right  one  ;  but  no  statesman  of 
the  sixteenth  century  would  have  hesitated  to 
recommend  the  latter.  Perceiving  that  the 
institutions  of  England  and  Ireland  differed 
widely  ;  perceiving  also  that  the  former  country 
was  immeasurably  richer  and  more  civilized  than 
the  latter,  English  statesmen  rashly  concluded 
that  nothing  more  was  needed  for  the  regenera- 
tion of  Ireland  than  to  remodel  Irish  society 
from  top  to  bottom  on  the  English  pattern. 
The  chief  was  to  be  transformed  into  an  English 
nobleman  ;  the  clansman  into  an  English  tenant. 
Sheriffs  were  to  be  appointed  in  every  county. 
Judges  were  to  go  on  circuit  through  the  whole 
island.  The  Deputy  was  to  be  the  faint  shadow 
of  the  English  king,  subject,  it  is  true,  to  the 
control  of  the  home  government,  but  acknow- 
ledging no  responsibility  to  the  people  over 
whom  he  ruled.  A  parliament,  attended  by 
Irish  chiefs  and  Anglo-Irish  lords,  was  to  meet 
at  Dublin,  and  to  give  a  formal  assent  to  the 
royal  edicts.  As  the  King  was  to  be  the  head 
of  the  church  in  England,  so  he  was  to  be 
the  head  of  the  church  in  Ireland.  As  the 
monasteries  had  been  dissolved  in  the  larger 
island,  so  they  were  to  be  dissolved  in  the 
smaller.  No  allowance  was  to  be  made  for 
difference  of  race,  of  customs,  of  traditions. 
There  was  to  be  one  law,  one  language,  one 
costume.  The  old  acts  remained  upon  the 
statute  book,  but  they  received  a  new  meaning. 

268 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

They  were  no  longer  to  be  considered  as  appli- 
cable only  to  Englishmen,  or  to  Irishmen 
"  dwelling  in  the  land  of  peace  among  the 
English,"  but  were  to  be  enforced  indiscri- 
minately against  the  whole  population  of  both 
races.  Proclamations  were  issued  against 
"  glibs  "  and  "  crummels,"  against  saffron 
shirts  and  frieze  mantles.  The  bard,  the  brehon, 
the  begging  friar,  the  strolling  player,  all  the 
classes  who  most  fully  represented  the  national 
traditions  and  enjoyed  the  largest  share  of  the 
national  esteem,  were  marked  ou<-  for  repression 
and  punishment.  The  chiefs  who  had  sub- 
mitted undertook  not  only  to  abolish  the 
Brehon  law,  but  to  use  the  English  dress  and, 
to  their  knowledge,  the  English  language. 
Their  children  were  being  educated  in  England 
or  in  the  Pale,  and  would,  it  was  hoped,  carry 
the  anglicizing  process  a  step  further  in  the 
next  generation.^ 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  this  legislation 
neither  was  nor  could  be  enforced.  Of  the 
chiefs  very  few  made  any  attempt  to  fulfil  their 
engagements  ;  and  those  few  accomplished  little 
save  the  destruction  of  their  own  influence.  The 
people  everywhere  set  the  law  at  defiance  ;  and 
it  is  impossible  to  hang  or  to  imprison  a  whole 
nation.  But,  although  in  one  sense  a  complete 
failure,  the  attempt  to  denationalize  Ireland  was 

^  See  some  excellent  remarks   on  this  subject  by   Brewer. 
— Calendar  of  Carew  MSS.^  preface  to  vol.  ii. 

269 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

not  altogether  barren  of  results.  On  the  one 
hand,  it  alienated  the  people  from  the  govern- 
ment ;  on  the  other,  it  encouraged  the  official 
class  and  the  new  English  generally  to  treat  the 
natives  with  contempt  and  insolence  ;  thus 
fostering  those  feelings  of  arrogance  on  one  side 
and  disaffection  on  the  other,  which  have  been 
for  more  than  three  centuries  the  insuperable 
obstacles  to  the  rational  government  of  Ireland. 
And  when  to  all  these  causes  of  dissatisfaction 
it  is  added  that  the  favours  of  the  crown  had 
been  unevenly  distributed,  and  that  many  chiefs 
complained  that  they  had  received  terms  less 
advantageous  than  had  been  granted  to  their 
neighbours  ;  that  the  condition  of  the  Pale, 
wasted  by  war,  crushed  by  oppressive  taxation, 
and  oppressed  by  a  licentious  soldiery  and  a 
corrupt  government,  tended  rather  to  repel  than 
to  attract  the  population  beyond  its  borders  ; 
and  that  society  was  kept  in  constant  agitation 
by  rumours  that  the  young  Earl  of  Kildare  was 
about  to  return  at  the  head  of  a  French  or 
Spanish  army,^  we  shall  be  at  no  loss  to  account 
for  the  rebellions  that  followed. 

The  results  of  Henry's  ecclesiastical  policy 
were  equally  unfortunate.  In  religious  as  in 
civil  matters  a  period  of  delusive  success  was 
followed  by  one  of  complete  and  overwhelming 
disaster.      The    first    measures    of   reform   were 

^  Lord  Justice  and  Council   to  the   King,   May    20,  1544. 
St.  Leger  to  the  Council,  April   14,  1545. 

270 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

received  with  the  acquiescence  of  indifference. 
In  the  Pale  the  clergy,  whatever  may  have  been 
their  real  opinions,  did  not  venture  to  deny  the 
royal  supremacy.  The  Archbishop  of  Dublin, 
it  is  true,  complained  bitterly  of  their  opposi- 
tion ;  but  this  opposition  appears  to  have  been 
of  a  passive  character,  and  to  have  amounted 
to  little  more  than  a  reluctance  to  preach  new 
doctrines.^  As  the  English  power  advanced  the 
statutory  religion  advanced  with  it.  The  soldiers 
went  first ;  the  bishops,  the  lawyers,  and  the 
hangman  followed  ;  and  the  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical supremacy  of  the  crown  was  proclaimed  i539 
amidst  an  orgy  of  massacres,  executions,  and 
sermons.  In  January,  1539,  Browne  preached 
against  Popery  at  Carlow,  Kilkenny,  Ross, 
Wexford,  Waterford,  and  Clonmel.  The  Arch- 
bishops of  Cashel  and  Tuam  and  eight  other 
bishops,  six  of  whom  appear  to  have  been 
regularly  appointed,  took  the  oath  of  supremacy 
at  the  last  named  town.^  The  Primate,  who 
had  never  concealed  his  hostility  to  the  Refor- 
mation, held  out  for  some  time  longer,  and  so 

^  "  Before  that  our  most  dread  sovereign  was  declared  to  be, 
as  he  ever  was  indeed,  Supreme  Head  over  the  Church  com- 
mitted unto  his  princely  care,  they  that  then  could  and  would, 
very  often  till  the  right  Christians  were  weary  of  them,  preach 
after  the  old  sort  and  fashion,  will  not  now  once  open  their 
lips  in  any  pulpit  for  the  manifestation  of  the  same." — Browne 
to  Cromwell,  January  8,  1538.  See  also  other  letters  of 
Browne  to  Cromwell,  May  8  ;  May  20  ;  June  20,  1538. 

^  Council  to  Cromwell,  January  18,  and  February  8,  1539. 

271 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

did  the  majority  of  his  suffragans/  In  the  next 
year,  however,  he  appears  to  have  yielded,  or  at 
least  to  have  desisted  from  active  opposition  ; 
and  he  certainly  incurred  the  suspicion  of  the 
Pope,  w^ho  suspended  him  from  his  functions 
until  he  should  purge  himself  from  the  charge 
of  heresy.  Dr.  Cromer  died  not  long  after- 
1542  w^ards,  and  George  Dowdall,  the  last  prior  of 
Ardee,  w^ho  had  already  surrendered  his  priory 
and  taken  the  oath  of  supremacy,  w^as  appointed 
to  succeed  him."  The  Pope,  who  of  course 
refused  to  recognize  this  appointment,  conferred 
the  see  upon  Robert  Wauchop,  a  Scotchman  and 
a  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  Wauchop 
must  have  been  a  man  of  remarkable  strength 
of  character  ;  for,  although  afflicted  from  child- 
hood with  an  infirmity  of  vision  so  great  as  to 
have  given  rise  to  the  belief  that  he  was  wholly 
blind,  he  not  only  attained  to  eminence  as  a 
theologian,  but  acquired  the  curiously  unepis- 
copal  reputation  of  being  the  best  horseman  in 
Europe.  He  assisted  at  the  deliberations  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  where  he  bore  the  title  of 
Archbishop  of  Armagh,  in  1545  and  the  two 
following  years  ;  but  it  was  not  until  five  years 
later  that  he  paid  his  first  and  only  visit  to  his 

^  "  My  brother  of  Armagh,  who  hath  been  the  main 
oppugner,  and  so  hath  withdrawn  most  of  his  suffragans  and 
clergy  within  his  see  and  jurisdiction." — Browne  to  Cromwell, 
November  28,  1535.      Harleian  Miscellany^  V,  596. 

'  Henry  to  the  Lord  Deputy  and  Council,  October  8, 
1542. 

2.TZ 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

diocese.^     Of  the   suffragan   sees  a  considerable 
number  became  vacant  between  1536  and  1542, 
and  were  filled  by  Henry's  nominees,  who,  of 
course,    took    the    prescribed    oaths.      Dominic 
Tirrey,    the    reforming    Bishop    of    Cork    and     1536- 
Cloyne,  was  at  one  time  excluded  from  his  see     ^542 
by  a  Franciscan  named  MacNamara,  but  eventu- 
ally recovered   possession.      Richard   Nangle,  of 
Clonfert,  was  less  fortunate,  being  expelled  from 
his    diocese    by    Roland    De    Burgh,    who   was 
supported    by    his    kinsman    Ulick,    afterwards 
first  Earl  of  Clanricarde.'     In    1541,  however, 
De  Burgh  surrendered  his  bulls  ;  in  the  following 
year  he  petitioned  for  the  see  of  Elphin,  which 
he  afterwards  obtained  from  Edward  VI ;  and, 
although  this  petition  was  for  a  time  rejected, 
he    succeeded    in    securing    the   wealthy   abbey 
of  Portu  Puro.      Nangle  may  have  died  in  the 
interim,  but  it  is  at  least  equally  possible   that 
Henry,  whose  object  was   to   effect   the   mini- 
mum of  doctrinal  reform  compatible  with  the 

^  Brady's  Episcopal  Succession^  I,  216-217.  Spicilegium 
Ossoriense^  I,  13.  Hibernia  Ignatiana,  p.  4.  Jcta  Concilii 
Tridentiniy  p.  29.  Wauchop  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the 
State  Papers  as  "the  blind  bishop  "  {e.g.^  John  Alen  to  Thomas 
Alen,  February,  1550  ;  Dowdall  to  Sir  John  Alen,  March  22, 
1550;  Vannes  to  the  Council,  April  5,  1551);  but  those  who 
supposed  him  to  be  totally  blind  must  have  been  ignorant  of 
the  fact  that  total  blindness  is  by  the  canon  law  an  "impedi- 
ment" to  holy  orders.  The  consistorial  act  describes  him  as 
"debilitatem  visus  patientem." 

^  Cowley  to  Cromwell,  July  19,  1538.  Browne  to 
Cromwell,  February  16,  1539. 

273  T 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

recognition  of  his  own  supremacy,  may  have 
agreed  to  abandon  his  nominee/  In  the  next  year 
another  papal  bishop,  O'Cervallan  of  Clogher, 
who  had  been  O'Neil's  chaplain,  and  had  been 
appointed  at  his  supplication,  surrendered  his 
bulls  and  was  confirmed  in  the  possession  of  his 
see.  ^neas  O'Hiffernan  was  appointed  toEmly 
at  the  petition  of  Desmond,  and  Connaught 
O'Sheil  to  Elphin  at  that  of  O'Donel/  When 
Henry  died  three  of  the  four  archbishops  had 
been  appointed  by  him,  and  the  fourth,  Butler 
of  Cashel,  had  submitted  to  him.  Of  the 
bishops  a  large  majority  can  be  shown  to  have 
taken  the  oath,  and  none  can  be  shown  to  have 
refused  it.  The  reader  may  attribute  their  con- 
duct to  fear,  to  indifference,  or  to  a  failure  to 
understand  the  real  nature  of  the  points  at  issue  ; 
it  is  at  least  certain  that  there  was  no  real 
conversion.  The  question  of  supremacy  was 
regarded  by  both  parties  as  one  of  politics 
rather  than   religion  ;'  and    of  the   conforming 

^  The  Irishmen's  requests,  May,  1543.  Henry  to  the  Lord 
Deputy  and  Council,  July  9,  1543.  Edward  VI  to  Sir  James 
Crofts,  November,  1551.   Fiants^  Henry  VIII,  Nos.  260,  263, 

378. 

^  Henry    to    the    Lord    Deputy  and  Council,  October  8, 

1542. 

^  On  the  different  interpretations  put  upon  the  title  "  Head 
of  the  Church,"  cf.  Macaulay's  History  of  England^  ch.  i ;  the 
correspondence  between  Macaulay  and  Bishop  Phillpotts  of 
Exeter,  and  Brewer,  Calendar  of  Carew  MSS.^  preface  to  vol. 
iii. 

274 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

bishops  only  Browne,  Staples,  Nangle,  and 
possibly  Tirrey,  were  Protestants  in  the  modern 
sense.  In  England  Gardiner,  afterwards  the 
leader  of  the  Romanist  reaction,  was  the  most 
zealous  advocate  of  the  royal  supremacy  ;  and 
Bonner,  the  most  fanatical,  and  Tunstall,  the 
most  learned  and  large-minded  of  the  English 
bishops,  wrote  strongly  in  the  same  cause.  In 
Ireland  Dowdall  of  Armagh,  and  Bodkin  of 
Tuam,  both  appointed  by  the  king  and  neither 
of  them  acknowledged  at  Rome,  were  among 
the  most  earnest  opponents  of  the  new  doctrines. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  laity,  whose 
religious  feelings  were  always  lukewarm,  should 
have  offered  little  opposition  to  a  measure  which 
even  dignified  ecclesiastics  accepted  with  such 
astonishing  complacency.  A  renunciation  of 
the  papal  authority  and  a  recognition  of  Henry 
as  supreme  head  of  the  Church,  were  required 
from  all  who  submitted  and  were  accepted 
without  protest  by  all.^ 

The  abbeys,  meanwhile,  were  being  suppressed 
in  all  districts  where  the  power  of  England  was 
in  the  ascendant.  In  1537  fourteen  houses 
were  dissolved  by  act  of  parliament ;  eight 
others  were  suppressed  in  the  same  year  without 
legal  warrant.^  In  May,  1539,  a  commission 
was  issued  to  Browne,  Alen,  Brabazon,  Cowley, 

^  Carew  MSS.^  vol.  i,  passim. 

^28  Henry  VIII,  c.  16.  Gray  and  Brabazon  to  Cromwell, 
May  18,  1537. 

275 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

and  Cusack,  for  the  dissolution  of  all  monasteries 
throughout  the  island,  and  the  confiscation  of 
their  property.^  The  scheme  was  opposed  by 
Gray,  who  submitted  to  Henry  a  list  of  houses 
in  the  counties  of  Dublin,  Kildare  and  Kilkenny 
1539  which  he  desired  should  be  exempted  from 
the  general  spoliation.  These  monasteries,  he 
explained,  served  either  as  places  of  entertain- 
ment, "in  default  of  common  inns,  which  are 
not  in  this  land,"  or  as  schools  in  which  the 
young  gentlemen  of  the  Pale  were  brought  up 
in  "virtue,  learning  and  the  English  tongue  and 
behaviour";  and,  what  was  still  more  important, 
they  furnished  a  considerable  number  of  troops 
at  every  hosting.  Moreover,  the  Abbey  of  St. 
Mary,  Dublin,  was  "the  common  resort  of  all 
such  of  reputation  as  hath  repaired  hither  out 
of  England,"  and  the  parliament  and  courts  of 
justice  usually  sat  in  Christ  Church.  Similar 
petitions  were  presented  on  behalf  of  their  own 
houses  by  the  Abbot  of  St.  Mary's,  and  the 
Prior  of  Connall ;  but  to  these  petitions  no 
attention  was  paid." 

Ostensibly  the  commissioners  were  empowered 
only    to    accept    "voluntary"    surrenders;     but 

^  Patent  Rolls,  I,  55. 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  Cromwell,  May  21,  1539. 
William  Laundy,  Abbot  of  St.  Mary's,  to  Cromwell,  July  31, 
1539.  Walter  Wellesley,  Bishop  of  Kildare  and  Prior  of 
Connell,  to  Cromwell,  May  24,  1539  {Carew  MSS.).  See 
also  the  petition  of  the  Sovereign  and  Council  of  Wexford  on 
behalf  of  the  monastery  of  Selsskyr,  January  29,  1537  [ibid.), 

276 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

coercion  was  unscrupulously  employed  wherever 
a  "voluntary"  surrender  was  refused.  Thus 
Manus  O'Fihely,  the  last  Abbot  of  Thurles, 
having  refused  to  surrender  his  monastery,  was 
subjected  to  a  long  and  rigorous  imprisonment.  ^ 
In  most  cases  the  monks  made  a  virtue  of 
necessity,  and  purchased  small  pensions  by 
a  speedy  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  the 
government.^ 

Before  the  end  of  the  year  1541,  all,  or 
nearly  all,  the  religious  houses  in  Leinster,  in 
the  Ormond  palatinate,  and  in  the  walled  towns 
of  Munster  had  been  dissolved.  The  lands  of 
the  suppressed  monasteries  were  granted  partly 
to  persons  whose  assistance  it  was  necessary  to 
secure,  and  partly  to  persons  whose  opposition  it 
was  desirable  to  disarm.  Englishmen  and  Irish- 
men, Catholics  and  Protestants,  priests  and 
laymen,  all  showed  an  equal  appetite  for 
plunder.  Lord  Leonard  Gray  proclaimed  his 
hostility  to  disestablishment,  yet  he  obtained  a 
grant  of  the  first  house  dissolved,  the  nunnery  of 
Grane  in  Kildare.^  After  Gray's  attainder  this 
nunnery    was    re-granted    to    Sir    Anthony    St. 

^  Grose,  Antiquities  of  Ireland^  II,  85. 

^  Fiants^  Henry  VIII,  passim. 

^  Ibid.y  No.  71.  This  nunnery  was  suppressed  as 
early  as  1535,  but  the  nuns  were  at  first  quartered  on  other 
houses.  Ware,  I,  154.  In  the  patent  for  its  suppression  it 
is  erroneously  described  as  being  in  the  county  of  Carlow. 
Gray  was  created  Viscount  Grane  in  the  peerage  of  Ireland, 
a  title  which  he  appears  not  to  have  used. 

277 


THE   KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

Leger.^  The  priory  of  St.  Wolstan  in  the  same 
county  was  assigned  to  Lord  Chancellor  Alen.^ 
Alen  also  attempted  to  secure  the  abbey  of  St. 
Thomas  the  Martyr  near  Dublin,  but  that 
magnificent  establishment  fell  to  the  share  of 
Sir  William  Brabazon.^  The  Archbishop  of 
Dublin  petitioned  for  "a  very  poor  house  of 
friars  named  the  New  Abbey,"  which  lay  "very 
commodious"  for  him  at  Ballymore ;  but  not 
only  was  this  modest  request  refused,  but,  that 
nothing  might  be  wanting  to  complete  his 
Grace's  mortification,  the  coveted  friary  was 
granted  to  a  "mere  Irishman."^  The  Prime 
Serjeant  Barnewall,  the  most  violent  of  all  the 
opponents  of  the  suppression,  was  pacified  with 
the  nunnery  of  Gracedieu,  previously  noted  as 
a  seminary  for  young  ladies.*^  The  priory  of 
Louth  provided  lands  and  a  title  to  Sir  OUver 
Plunket.^  The  Butlers  of  course  profited  largely, 
the  abbeys  in  Kilkenny  and  Tipperary — and 
among  these  were  some  of  the  richest  in  the 
island — being  assigned  almost  of  necessity  to 
the  only  family  which  was  capable  of  defending 
them.^     The  religious  houses  in  walled   towns 

^  Plants,  Henry  VIII,  No.  304.  ^  Ihid.,  No.  57. 

^  Alen  to  Cromwell,  May  12,  1539.  Fiants,  Henry  VIII, 
No.  547. 

^  Browne  to  Cromwell,  May  21,  1538. 

^  Fiants,  Henry  VIII,  No.  235. 

^  Ibid.,  No.  196. 

^  Ibid.,  Nos.  161,  308.  In  1537  the  Irish  government, 
recommending   a  grant  of  the  abbey  of  Dusk   to   Ormond, 

278 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

were  either  granted  to  influential  citizens  or 
converted  to  municipal  uses.  The  corporations 
of  Drogheda,  Kilkenny,  Wexford,  Waterford, 
Clonmel,  Cork  and  Limerick,  all  received 
extensive  grants  of  monastic  property.  The 
priory  of  All  Saints,  Dublin,  was  assigned  to  the 
citizens  as  a  reward  for  their  conduct  during 
the  rebellion,  and  the  monastery  of  the  Friars 
Preachers  in  the  same  city  was  converted  into  a 
place  of  residence  for  the  lawyers  that  the 
scripture  might  be  fulfilled,  "My  house  shall  be 
called  a  house  of  prayer,  but  you  have  made  it 
a  den  of  thieves."^ 

The  dissolution  in  the  native  districts  went  on 
very  slowly,  the  lands  of  the  dissolved  abbeys 
being  generally  granted  to  Irish  or  Anglo-Irish 
chieftains,  "as  a  means  to  make  them  glad  rather 
to  suppress  them."^  To  the  Earl  of  Thomond 
were  granted  all  such  abbeys  in  Thomond  as 
were  already  in  his  possession,  and  the  gift  of  all 
benefices  spiritual  within  the  same  territory, 
bishoprics  only  excepted  ;  to  the  Earl  of  Clan- 
ricarde  the  "  gift  and  disposing  of  all  parsonages 
and  vicarages  within  his  lands,  bishoprics  ex- 
cepted," and  the  abbey  De  Via  Nova  in  the 
diocese  of  Clonfert  ;   to  the  Baron   of  Ibrackin 

wrote  :  "  We  cannot  perceive,  as  the  same  is  situated,  that 
any  man  can  keep  it  for  the  King  but  only  the  said  Earl  and 
his  son." — Gray  and  others  to  Cromwell,  April  29. 

^  Fiants,  Henry  VIII,  Nos.  70,  238. 

^  The  Council  with  the  King  to  Lord  Chancellor  Audley, 
October  10,  1541. 

279 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

the  abbey  of  Ellengrane  and  the  moiety  of  the 
abbey  of  Clare  ;  to  the  Baron  of  Upper  Ossory 
the  friary  of  Haghevoo  and  the  monastery  of 
Hagmacarte ;  to  O'Neil,  O'Donel,  Desmond 
and  many  others,  numerous  abbeys  in  their 
respective  countries.'  But  it  is  very  doubtful 
how  far  these  grants  took  effect.  From  a  state 
paper  of  the  year  1548  it  appears  that  no  mona- 
stery in  Ulster,  Connaught  or  Thomond,  and 
very  few  in  Munster,  had  been  dissolved  before 
that  time.'  In  the  last  decade  of  the  century  it 
was  reported  from  Connaught  that  many  houses 
were  still  standing,  especially  in  Mayo,  Sligo 
and  "  O'Rourke's  country."  ^  And  when  Sir  John 
Davies  visited  Ulster  in  1607  he  found  the 
abbeys  in  Tyrone,  Donegal  and  Fermanagh  still 
"  occupied  by  the  religious  persons."  ^ 

Financially  the  crown  profited  very  little  by 
the  dissolution.  The  personal  property  of  the 
monks  had  been  valued  at  ^100,000,  but  the 
amount  actually  realized  fell  short  of  ^(^3,000. 
Whether  this  extraordinary  discrepancy  between 
the  sum  which  the  government  expected  to  gain 
and  the  sum  which  they  in  fact  gained  is  to  be 

^  The  Irishmen's  Requests,  May,  1543.  Henry  to  St.  Leger, 

July  9,  1543- 

^  "  How  many  frere  houses  remain,  using  yet  the  old  papist 
sort  ?  All  Munster  in  effect,  all  Thomond,  Connaught, 
Ulster." — Interrogatories  against  George  Browne,  Archbishop 
of  Dublin,  November,  1548. 

^  List  of  monasteries  in  Ulster  and  Connaught,  1594. 

*  Davies,  Discovery^  p.  329. 

280 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

attributed  to  a  miscalculation  on  the  part  of 
the  Treasury,  to  the  dexterity  with  which  the 
monks  concealed  their  possessions,  or  to  em- 
bezzlement by  the  commissioners,  it  is  not 
perhaps  possible  to  determine.^ 

The  Reformation,  on  the  whole,  was  carried 
out  with  less  violence  than  in  England.  A 
priest  named  Travers,  who  had  written  a  contro- 
versial work  in  defence  of  the  papal  supremacy, 
was  executed,  but  whether  for  the  authorship  of 
this  work,  as  the  Catholics  alleged,  or,  as  the 
Protestants  pretended,  for  complicity  in  the 
Geraldine  rebellion,  is  uncertain.^  The  Fran- 
ciscans of  Monaghan  were  massacred  in  1 540  ; 
but  Monaghan  was  a  border  county,  and  the 
massacre  ought  perhaps  to  be  considered  as  an 
episode  of  the  ordinary  border  warfare  rather 
than  as  an  act  of  religious  persecution.^  Arch- 
bishop Browne,  whose  horror  of  idolatry 
amounted  to  a  monomania,  burnt  the  Baculum 
Jesu,  the  Holy  Rood  of  Ballyboggan,  the  statue 

^  "The  yearly  value  [of  the  suppressed  monasteries] 
amounted  to  ;^3 2,000,  and  their  moveables  were  rated  at 
;;^  1 00,000." — Loftus  MSS.  For  the  actual  receipts  see 
"  Accounts  of  William  Brabazon,  Under-Treasurer  and 
Receiver-General,"  September  29,  1540  (MS.  R.O.).  On 
May  25,  1538,  Thomas  Finglas  wrote  to  Cromwell  that  the 
monks  were  concealing  their  property  in  the  expectation  that 
their  houses  would  be  suppressed  (MS.  R.O.). 

^  Ware,  II,  93.  Ware  simply  states  that  Travers  wrote  in 
defence  of  the  Papal  supremacy  and  was  executed.  The  editor 
adds  that  he  suffered  for  his  share  in  the  Geraldine  rebellion. 

^  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters^  I540. 

281 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

of  Our  Lady  of  Trim,  and  other  images ;  and 
the  destruction  was  accompanied  by  riots  in 
consequence  of  which  several  persons  lost  their 
livesJ  Even  Gray,  whom  Browne  denounced 
as  a  papist,  appears  to  have  burnt  the  cathedral 
of  Down,  and  to  have  committed  other  acts  of 
sacrilege,"  and  a  garrison  which  Bellingham 
established  at  Athlone  a  few  years  later  pillaged 
the  abbey  of  Clonmacnois.^  But  both  the 
government  and  the  native  chiefs  were  actuated 
by  secular  rather  than  theological  motives,  and 
it  was  not  until  half  a  century  later  that  religion 
began  to  exercise  a  perceptible  influence  on  Irish 
politics. 

On  the  whole  it  could  scarcely  be  denied  that 
the  condition  of  the  country  was  improving. 
It  was  agreed  on  all  sides  that  the  reduction  of 
Leinster  must  precede  that  of  the  more  distant 
provinces  ;  and  Leinster  was  never  quieter  than 
under  the  government  of  St.  Leger.  In  the 
1540  first  year  of  his  administration  the  Lord  Deputy 
had  proposed  a  curious  scheme  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  eastern  province.  Some  sixty  years 
earlier,   when    the   English    power    had    almost 

^  The  Four  Masters  place  the  destruction  of  these  relics  in 
1527,  Ware  in  1538.  The  latter  must  be  the  correct  date, 
since  Browne,  in  a  letter  to  Cromwell  dated  June  20,  1538, 
speaks  of  the  intention  as  one  which  he  had  not  yet  executed. 
The  native  annalists,  although  tolerably  well  informed  as  to 
matters  of  fact,  are  often  extremely  inexact  in  their  chronology. 

-  Stanihurst,  p.  312.      Ware's  Annals. 

^  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters^  1552. 

282 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

disappeared  out  of  Ireland,  the  lords  and  gentle- 
men of  the  four  shires  had  formed  themselves 
into  a  society,  known  as  the  Brotherhood  of  St. 
George,  for  the  defence  of  the  English  frontier. 
The  society  had  died  a  natural  death  ;  and  St. 
Leger  proposed  to  revive  it  in  a  slightly  different 
form.  The  new  order  of  knighthood — for  such 
it  was  to  be  in  effect — was  to  consist  of  a  Grand 
Master,  who  was  to  be  a  peer  of  the  realm,  and 
twelve  "  pensioners,"  with  their  retinues.  These 
personages,  who  were  to  receive  salaries  varying 
from  £^0  to  ^loo  per  annum,  were  to  be  re- 
sponsible for  the  defence  of  the  Pale,  for  the 
maintenance  of  order  in  Leinster,  and  for  the 
repair  of  the  frontier  fortresses.  It  is  charac- 
teristic of  St.  Leger's  liberality  that  among  the 
persons  from  whom  he  proposed  to  select  the 
first  "  pensioners "  were  several  "  mere  Irish- 
men." They  were,  however,  to  be  required  to 
wear  the  English  dress,  and  to  learn  the  English 
language.^  The  scheme  found  no  favour  with 
Henry,  who  saw  in  the  proposed  brotherhood 
a  resemblance  to  the  monastic  order  of  St.  John 
of  Jerusalem,  which  he  had  just  dissolved.^    But, 

^  Device  for  the  Reformation  of  Leinster,  November  14, 
1540. 

^  Henry  to  St.  Leger,  March  26,  1541.  "A  device  sent 
hither  subscribed  by  the  hand  of  the  Lord  Deputy  and  Council 
of  Ireland  for  the  establishing  of  good  order  in  the  county  of 
Leinster  in  Ireland  was  misliked  for  that  it  appeared  to  be  an 
institution  of  a  nevf  St.  John's  Order." — Proceedings  of  the  Privy 
Council.^  VII,  92. 

283 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

although  the  Lord  Deputy's  suggestion  was  dis- 
regarded, the  area  of  English  law  was  slowly 
but  steadily  extended.  In  1542  the  "  march,'* 
or  western  part  of  the  county  of  Meath — one 
of  those  districts  in  which  the  English  and  Irish 
were  intermixed,  and  which  had  hitherto  been 
the  scene  of  constant  warfare  between  the  two 
races — was  formed  into  a  separate  county  by 
the  name  of  Westmeath.'  In  the  same  year  a 
petition  was  received  from  the  O'Byrnes  that 
their  country  might  be  made  shireland  by  the 
name  of  the  county  of  Wicklow  ;  but,  for  some 
cause  not  altogether  easy  to  understand,  this 
very  reasonable  request  was  rejected.'  It  appears, 
however,  from  a  letter  written  a  few  years  later 
by  St.  Leger,  that  sheriffs  were  appointed  both 
among  this  sept  and  among  the  O'Tooles,  and 
that  in  1546  a  member  of  the  latter  family  was 
chosen  sheriff  of  Dublin,  and  "  executed  that 
room  very  honestly."  ^ 

"  The  winning  of  Desmond  was  the  winning 
of  the  rest  of  Munster  at   small  charges.'"*    A 

^  34  Henry  VIII,  c.  i. 

^  "  That  their  country  may  be  erected  by  authority  of 
Parh'ament  into  a  county,  with  the  name  of  the  county  of 
Wicklow,  so  that  the  King  may  henceforth  constitute  a 
sheriff  there,  and  other  officers." — Petition  of  the  O'Byrnes, 
July  4,  1542  {Carew  MSS.). 

^  Answer  to  notes  exhibited  by  the  Lord  Chancellor  against 
the  King's  Deputy,  1546. 

^  Sir  Thomas  Cusack  to  the  Duke  of  Northumberland, 
May  8,  1552. 

284 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

few  months  after  the  submission  of  the  Earl  an 
ordinance,  which  appears  to  have  had  the  force 
of  law,  was  issued  for  the  government  of  the  1541 
southern  province.  The  disorders  of  the 
Church,  always  serious,  had  been  aggravated 
by  the  recent  changes  ;  and  an  honest  if  not 
very  effective  attempt  was  made  to  remedy 
them.  The  bishops  were  to  be  allowed  to  visit 
their  dioceses  ;  laymen  and  minors  were  to 
be  excluded  from  ecclesiastical  preferments  ; 
beneficed  persons  were  to  take  orders  and 
reside.  Turning  to  secular  matters,  highway 
robbery  and  rape  were  constituted  capital 
offences  :  a  scale  of  fines  in  accordance  with 
the  provisions  of  the  Brehon  law,  which  was 
thus  officially  recognized,  being  appointed  for 
less  serious  misdemeanours.  Coyne  and  livery, 
it  was  admitted,  could  not  be  entirely  abolished, 
the  chiefs,  who  had  little  ready  money,  having 
no  other  means  of  supporting  their  retainers  ; 
but  an  effort  was  made  to  limit  them,  the  lords 
being  forbidden  to  billet  troops  on  any  but  their 
own  tenants.  The  peace  of  the  province  was 
constantly  disturbed  by  the  "  kerne  "  or  light 
infantry,  who  were  wholly  without  discipline, 
and  differed  very  little  from  ordinary  brigands. 
In  order  to  remedy  this  inconvenience  the  chiefs 
were  made  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  their 
followers  ;  unattached  or  "  masterless  "  kerne 
were  to  be  treated  as  vagabonds  and  committed 
to    the    nearest    prison,    until   some    gentleman 

28s 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

should  take  them  into  his  service.  Scarcely 
less  troublesome  than  the  kerne  were  the  horse- 
boys or  serving  men,  who  attended  on  the 
horsemen  ;  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  limit 
their  numbers  by  forbidding  any  horseman  to 
keep  more  than  one.  The  entertainment  of  bards, 
storytellers  and  strolling  players  was  prohibited 
under  severe  penalties  ;  and  there  was  the  usual 
futile  attempt  to  regulate  the  dress  of  the  people. 
The  execution  of  these  ordinances  was  entrusted 
to  Ormond  and  the  Archbishop  of  Cashel 
in  Kilkenny,  Tipperary  and  Waterford  :  to 
Desmond  and  the  Archbishop  in  Cork, 
Limerick,  and  Kerry  ;  and  to  the  several 
bishops  and  chiefs  in  their  respective  territories.^ 
In  September,  1542,  St.  Leger  himself  visited 
Munster,  when  the  Barries,  MacCarthies, 
Roches  and  other  leading  gentlemen  of  the 
1542  province  entered  into  indentures  similar  to  those 
which  had  already  been  concluded  with  the 
northern  chieftains.  The  signatories  acknow- 
ledged Henry  as  their  sovereign,  and  renounced 
the  "  usurped  primacy  and  authority  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome."  They  pledged  themselves 
jointly  and  severally  not  to  make  war  upon 
each  other,  but  to  submit  their  disputes  to  the 
arbitration  of  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
crown  ;  to  assist  and  protect  the  royal  tax- 
gatherers    and    other    officers  ;    to   enforce    the 

^  Ordinances   for  the   Reformation  of  Munster,    July    12, 
1 541  {Carew  MSS.). 

286 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

"  articles  and  ordinances  "  above  enumerated 
in  their  respective  territories  ;  to  combine  to 
prosecute  any  of  their  number  who  should  be 
guilty  of  any  offence  against  the  King's  peace  ; 
to  forego  the  black  rents  w^hich  they  had  hitherto 
received  from  the  city  of  Cork,  the  towns  of 
Youghal  and  Kinsale,  or  any  other  of  the 
King's  subjects  ;  and  to  give  hostages  for  the 
fulfilment  of  their  engagements.^  It  is  impossible 
to  say  how  far  these  ordinances  and  indentures 
were  actually  carried  out.  Practice,  as  is 
generally  the  case,  probably  lagged  somewhat 
behind  theory  ;  but  there  appears  to  be  no 
doubt  that  sheriffs  and  magistrates  were 
appointed,  and  that  the  judges  went  on  circuit 
through  the  most  westerly  parts  of  Munster.^ 

In  Munster  there  were  relics  of  a  feudal 
organization,  and  the  restoration  of  English  law 
was  comparatively  easy.  In  Connaught  and 
Ulster,  which  had  never  been  divided  into 
counties,  the  work  of  reformation  went  on  much 
more  slowly.  Yet  here  also  there  were  signs  of 
improvement.  The  Brehon  law  indeed  was 
still  used,  and  the  crown  exercised  little  direct 
authority.  But  the  general  peace  was  unbroken  ; 
quarrels,  which  at  an  earlier  period  would  have 

^  Indentures  with  Lord  Barrymore,  MacCarthy  Mor,  Lord 
Roche,  MacCarthy  Reagh,  Thady  MacCormac  (MacCarthy)  of 
Muskerry,  Barry  Oge,  O'SulHvan  Beare,  O'Callaghan,  Barry 
Roe,  MacDonough  of  Duhallow,  and  Sir  Gerald  MacShane,. 
September  26,  1542. 

^  Cusack  to  Northumberland,  May  8,  1552. 

287 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

been  decided  by  the  sword,  were  referred  to 
the  arbitration  of  the  Deputy  ;  and  the  creation 
of  three  new  earldoms  in  Clare,  Galway  and 
Tyrone,  the  universal  acknowledgment  of  the 
royal  title,  and  the  education  of  some  of  the 
younger  chiefs  in  the  English  manners,  seemed 
to  warrant  a  hope  that  within  another  genera- 
tion English  law  would  be  gradually  and  peace- 
fully extended  over  the  whole  island.  When 
1544  war  with  France  broke  out  a  few  months  later 
not  a  single  Irish  chieftain  offered  to  assist  the 
enemy  ;  and  a  considerable  body  of  Irish  soldiers 
served  with  distinguished  bravery  at  the  siege 
of  Boulogne  in  1544.' 

The  government,  nevertheless,  did  not  wholly 
escape  censure.  Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger  had 
not  been  many  months  in  office  before  he  was 
assailed  with  the  same  calumnies  which  had 
proved  fatal  to  his  predecessor.  Like  Lord 
Leonard  Gray,  he  was  accused  of  "  erecting  a 
Geraldine  band;"  and,  like  Gray,  he  answered 
that  it  was  to  the  Geraldines  that  the  crown 
must  look  for  support  against  the  overweening 
ambition  of  the  House  of  Ormond.^  The  Butlers, 

^  Stanihurst,  p.  315. 

-  "  It  may  also  please  your  Majesty  that,  where  it  hath  been 
to  me  reported  that  the  said  Mr.  Cowley,  late  Master  of  the 
Rolls  here,  should  article  against  me  that  I  went  about  to  erect 
a  new  Geraldine  band,  meaning  the  same  by  the  Earl  of 
Desmond  :  the  truth  is  I  laboured  most  effectually  to  bring 
him  to  your  perfect  obedience,  to  my  great  peril  and  charge  ; 
and  this,  gracious  lord,  was  the  only  cause.     I  saw  that,  now 

288 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

who,  like  the  loyalists  of  a  later  period,  sought 
only  to  oppress  and  plunder  their  fellow-subjects 
under  the  specious  pretence  of  advancing  the 
English  interest,  again  led  the  attack  upon 
the  Deputy.  Lord  Chancellor  Alen,  in  whom 
the  passion  for  intrigue  amounted  to  a  disease, 
plotted  against  St.  Leger,  as  he  had  plotted 
against  Kildare,  Skeffington,  and  Gray,  and 
as  he  afterwards  plotted  against  Sir  Edward 
Bellingham.  Before  the  end  of  1543  the  out- 
cry had  become  so  loud  that  the  Lord  Deputy, 
at  his  own  request,  was  summoned  to  England 
to  lay  the  state  of  Ireland  before  the  king.  He 
sailed  from  Dublin  in  February,  1544,  and 
appears  to  have  returned  in  August  of  the  same 
year.^     His  defence  must  have  satisfied  Henry  ; 

the  Earl  of  Kildare  was  gone,  there  was  no  subject  of  your 
Majesty  here  meet  nor  able  to  weigh  with  the  Earl  of 
Ormond,  who  hath  of  your  Majesty's  gift  and  of  his  own 
inheritance  and  rule  given  him  by  your  Majesty,  not  only 
fifty  or  sixty  miles  in  length,  but  also  many  of  the  chief  holds 
of  the  frontiers  of  Irishmen  ;  so  that  if  he  or  any  of  his  heirs 
should  waver  from  their  duty  of  allegiance,  it  would  be  more 
hard  to  daunt  him  or  them  than  it  was  the  said  Earl  of 
Kildare,  who  had  always  the  Earl  of  Ormond  in  his  top, 
when  he  would  or  was  like  to  attempt  any  such  thing. 
Therefore  I  thought  it  good  to  have  a  Rowland  for  an 
Oliver  ;  for,  having  the  said  Earl  of  Desmond  your  Highness' 
assured  subject,  it  will  keep  them  both  in  stay." — St.  Leger 
to  Henry,  May  8,  1542.  Even  Archbishop  Browne 
acknowledged  that  the  power  of  Ormond  had  become  so 
great  as  to  render  regular  government  impossible. — To  Henry, 
February  28,  1 545. 

^  State  Papers^  III,  493,  502. 

289  U 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

but  he  had  hardly  re-crossed  the  channel  when 
the  old  complaints  were  renewed  with  increased 
vehemence.  According  to  Alen,  the  most 
1539  rancorous  of  the  Lord  Deputy's  accusers,  the 
condition  of  the  country  was  worse  than  when 
St.  Leger  had  first  taken  office.  The  English 
Pale  was  "  nothing  amplified,  but  in  strength 
decayed,"  and  the  Irish  borderers  had  never  been 
stronger.  The  King's  writ  was  little,  if  at  all, 
better  obeyed  than  of  old,  and  his  revenues 
"little  or  nothing  augmented."  Leinster  was 
not  reformed.  The  chiefs  who  had  submitted 
had  not  fulfilled  their  engagements  ;  they  used 
their  old  laws ;  and  the  King  had  not  so  much 
as  the  abbeys  in  their  territories.  Many  of 
them  had  received  grants  of  lands  and  houses 
in  the  Pale,  "  whereby  they  are  become  good 
guides,  and  know  the  secrets  of  the  country  ; 
so  as,  if  they  should  digress,  they  may  do  much 
more  hurt  now  than  ever  they  could  do  before." 
"  It  is  a  strange  thing  to  me,"  the  Chancellor 
concluded,  "  to  consider  how  the  king  is  be- 
guiled ;  what  money  he  hath  spent  these  six 
years  past,  and  his  ancient  enemies  stronger 
than  they  were,  his  subjects  feebler,  and  his 
Grace's  profit  nothing  augmented."  ^  To  all  these 
charges  the  Lord  Deputy's  reply  was  conclusive. 
The  bounds  of  the  Pale  had  been  enlarged,  and, 
if  fewer  troops  were  kept  for  its  defence  than 

^  Certain  notes  on  the  state  of  Ireland,  by  Lord  Chancellor 
Alen,  1546. 

290 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

in  times  past,  this  was  inevitable,  since  the  old 
customs  of  coyne  and  livery  had  been  prohibited, 
and  farmers,  paying  rent  for  their  lands,  could 
not  keep  as  many  men  and  horses  as  the  owners 
had  done.  As  for  the  Irish  borderers,  their 
strength  was  completely  broken :  "  the  Byrnes 
not  half  the  horsemen  they  have  been ;  the 
Tooles  of  no  strength ;  the  Kavanaghs,  that 
were  wont  to  make  eight  or  nine  score  horse- 
men, not  now  able  to  make  forty.  Old  O'Moore 
would  ride  every  day  in  the  week  with  more 
horsemen  than  all  O'Moore's  country  is  now 
able  to  make.  Mulrony  O'Carroll  had  more 
horsemen  than  now  all  the  O'Moores  and 
O'CarroUs  together.  O'Conor  had,  at  my 
coming  into  the  land,  four  horsemen  to  one 
he  hath  now."  As  to  obeying  the  King's  writ, 
it  was  unreasonable  to  expect  a  complete  and 
instantaneous  reform ;  but  the  chiefs  kept  better 
order  than  they  had  done  for  a  hundred  years 
past,  and  merchants  might  now  ride  from 
Limerick  to  Cashel  without  fear  of  violence, 
through  a  country  which  had  lately  swarmed 
with  brigands.  As  for  the  revenue,  the  country 
was  miserably  poor ;  and  Alen,  while  calling  in 
general  terms  for  increased  subsidies,  had  opposed 
every  specific  proposal  of  the  Deputy.  The  argu- 
ments for  the  "  reformation,"  that  is  to  say,  the 
plantation  of  Leinster,  as  well  as  the  objections 
to  them,  had  been  submitted  to  Henry,  who 
had    decided   against    the    scheme.     The    Irish 

291 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

chiefs  kept  their  promises  at  least  as  well  as 
some  Englishmen — an  obvious  hit  at  the  Chan- 
cellor ;  and,  if  they  still  used  the  Brehon  law, 
so  did  the  Earl  of  Ormond  and  all  the  lords 
marchers/ 

But  a  far  more  unequivocal  testimony  to  the 
popularity  of  St.  Leger's  administration  was  fur- 
nished by  a  memorial  addressed  to  Henry  by  the 
Earls  of  Desmond,  Tyrone  and  Thomond,  the 
Baron  of  Upper  Ossory,  O'Conor,  O'Carroll, 
and  a  number  of  other  chieftains,  who  had 
been  previously  reputed  the  most  irreconcilable 
enemies  of  the  English  government.  The 
writers  humbly  besought  his  Majesty  to  lend 
a  favourable  ear  to  their  petition.  A  rumour 
had  long  been  current  that  the  Lord  Deputy,  to 
whose  high  character  they  bore  witness,  had 
been  described  as  negligent  in  the  discharge  of 
his  duties  and  as  unequal  to  the  task  imposed 
upon  him.  It  had  even  been  said  that  the  con- 
dition of  the  country  had  grown  worse  since  his 
appointment.  Indignant  at  these  calumnies, 
which  they  conceived  to  be  not  less  mischievous 
than  unjust,  they  had  unanimously  resolved  to 
lay  the  truth  before  the  King.  There  was  not, 
they  gratefully  acknowledged,  a  man  in  Ireland, 
"  though  he  had  seen  the  years  of  Nestor,"  who 
could  remember  a  period  of  equal  tranquillity  ; 
and,  although  they,  who  were  distinctively  called 

^  Answer  to  notes  exhibited  by  the  Lord  Chancellor  against 
the  King's  Deputy,  1546. 

292 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

Irish,  had  not  yet  learned  to  conform  to  the 
laws  as  fully  as  others,  who  from  their  cradles 
had  been  trained  in  the  due  observance  of  the 
same,  yet  they  diligently  strove  to  attain  to  a 
like  excellence,  and  called  God  to  witness  that 
they  acknowledged  no  king  or  lord  on  earth 
save  his  Majesty.  If,  however,  the  King  was 
resolved  that  the  Deputy,  to  whose  gracious 
language  and  tactful  bearing  they  attributed  the 
recent  progress  and  increasing  loyalty  of  the 
country,  should  no  longer  be  suffered  to  remain 
among  them,  they  would  conclude  with  this 
single  request,  that  his  successor  might  be  a 
man  of  like  character,  who  would  act  towards 
them  in  the  same  spirit  of  equity,  sincerity  and 
good  nature.^ 

When  this  letter  was  written  St.  Leger  was 
once  more  preparing  to  set  sail  for  England, 
whither  Ormond  had  preceded  him.  He 
reached  London  in  April,  and  for  the  second 
time  achieved  a  complete  triumph  over  his 
enemies.  Alen,  the  chief  author  of  the  mis- 
chief, was  committed  to  the  Tower,  and, 
although  he  was  soon  released,  it  was  not  until 
after  the  accession  of  Edward  that  the  great  seal 
was  restored  to  him.  Ormond,  with  sixteen 
of  his  retainers,  died  by  poison  in  October, 
and  Irish  tradition  has  branded  Henry  as  his 
murderer.     The  King  was   capable  of   that   or 

^  The  Irish  chieftains  to  Henry,  March  23,  1546. 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRELAND 

any  other  atrocity  ;  but  the  courts  of  law  were 
the  obedient  tools  of  the  crown,  and  the 
Earl's  loyalty  had  not  been  so  unquestionable 
that  Henry  need  have  shrunk  from  a  more  legal 
and  lucrative  vengeance/ 

^  Stanihurst,  pp.  317-318.  There  are  in  the  Record  Office 
several  curious  letters  written  from  the  Tower  by  Walter 
Cowley  to  the  Privy  Council,  in  October,  1546,  which  are 
not  among  the  printed  State  Papers.  In  one  of  these,  written 
apparently  only  a  few  days  before  the  death  of  Ormond,  he 
accuses  St.  Leger  of  conspiring  with  O'Conor  to  destroy  the 
Earl.  This  may  have  been  the  origin  of  the  report  mentioned 
by  the  Four  Masters^  1545  [1546],  that  both  St.  Leger  and 
Ormond  had  sworn  that  one  or  other  of  them  should  never 
return  to  Ireland. 


294 


CHAPTER    VI 

THE      REFORMATION 

Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger,  to  whose  wise  and 
liberal  policy  the  comparative  tranquillity  of 
Ireland  during  the  last  six  years  of  Henry's 
reign  must  in  a  great  measure  be  ascribed,  was 
continued  as  Deputy  by  the  Protector,  and  for  1547 
some  months  no  serious  disturbance  took  place. 
The  dissolution  of  the  monasteries  was,  no  doubt, 
unpopular  with  the  common  people,  and  French, 
Scotch,  and  papal  agents  were  busily  employed 
in  fanning  the  general  discontent ;  but  the  native 
chieftains  had  been  conciliated  with  grants  of 
monastic  property,  and  were  in  no  humour  for 
engaging  in  a  crusade.  ^ 

There  was,  however,  one  exception  to  the 
general  tranquillity.  Of  the  chiefs  whose  ter- 
ritories lay  along  the  borders  of  the  Pale  there 
was  none  more  dreaded  and  hated  by  the 
Englishry  than  Brian  O'Conor,  prince  of 
OfFaly.  His  dominions,  when  compared  with 
those  of  O'Neil  and  O'Brien,  were  inconsider- 
able ;  but  his  great  abilities,  his  close  connection 
with  the  House  of  Kildare,  and  his  formidable 
geographical  position,  combined  to  make  him 
one  of  the  most  dangerous  enemies  of  the  Irish 

295 


THE    REFORMATION 

government.  Of  the  confederates  who,  in  the 
preceding  reign,  had  formed  what  is  generally 
termed  the  Geraldine  League,  he  had  been  the 
first  to  take  up  arms  and  one  of  the  last  to  lay 
them  down.  In  July,  1534,  he  invaded  the 
Pale  ;  and,  although  he  was  for  a  short  time  in 
alliance  with  Lord  Leonard  Gray  four  years 
later,  it  was  not  until  the  autumn  of  1540  that 
he  made  his  final  submission  to  Gray's  successor. 
His  conduct  excited  the  greatest  indignation  in 
England,  and  Henry,  even  when  recommending 
a  conciliatory  policy  towards  the  Irish  in  general, 
sent  peremptory  orders  to  St.  Leger  that  O'Conor 
should  be  "rooted  out."'  Owing  to  the  good 
offices  of  the  Lord  Deputy  his  submission  was 
at  last  accepted,  but  the  terms  granted  to  him 
were  less  favourable  than  he  had  been  led  to 
expect.  The  peculiar  severity  with  which  he  was 
treated  was  probably  due  less  to  his  personal 
demerits  than  to  the  fact  that  some  of  the  Dublin 
officials  were  anxious  to  extend  the  bounds  of  the 
Pale,  and  for  that  reason  were  determined  to 
deal  less  liberally  with  the  border  chieftains  than 
with  the  more  distant  and  dangerous  potentates 
of  Ulster  and  Connaught.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
O'Conor  was  certainly  dissatisfied  ;  and  St. 
Leger,  who,  like  his  predecessor,  appears  to  have 
conceived  a  great  regard  for  him,  or  at  least  to 
have  formed  a  high  opinion  of  his  talents  and  of 

^  Henry  VIII  to  St.  Leger,  September  7,  1540. 
296 


THE    REFORMATION 

the  importance  of  attaching  him  to  the  EngHsh 
interest,  repeatedly  wrote  to  Henry  in  his  favour/ 
In  1 544,  however,  St.  Leger  was  summoned  to 
London  at  his  own  request,  the  administration 
being  entrusted  during  his  absence  to  the  Vice- 
Treasurer,  Sir  WilHam  Brabazon.  Brabazon, 
who  had  consistently  opposed  the  liberal  policy 
of  the  Lord  Deputy,  promptly  availed  himself  of 
the  latter's  recall  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  O'Conor, 
but  St.  Leger  fortunately  returned  to  Ireland  in 
time  to  prevent  serious  mischief.  In  the  next 
year  he  recommended  O'Conor  for  a  viscounty," 
and  Henry  expressed  his  assent,  but  for  some 
unexplained  reason  the  peerage  was  never  con- 
ferred. That  O'Conor,  whatever  may  have 
been  his  grievances,  was  at  this  time  fully 
satisfied  of  the  good  intentions  of  the  govern- 
ment, is  certain,  for  his  name  appears  among 
the  signatories  of  the  remarkable  testimonial 
to  the  Lord  Deputy  subscribed  by  the  Irish 
chieftains  in  March,  1546.^  But  when  this 
letter  was  written  St.  Leger  was  once  more 
on  his  way  to  England,  and  he  had  no  sooner 

^  Council  to  Henry,  September  22,  1540.  St.  Leger  to 
Henry,  November  13,  1540,  and  August  28,  1541. — Cusack, 
who  shared  St.  Leger's  views,  speaks  of  him  as  "O'Conor,  who 
is  reckoned  amongst  them  all  to  be  most  wise." — To  the 
Council,  September,  1 54 1.  Brabazon  maliciously  calls  him 
"  your  Lordship's  old  friend  O'Conor." — To  St.  Leger,  March 
24,  1544. 

^  St.  Leger  to  the  Privy  Council,  May  6,  1545. 

^  The  Irish  chieftains  to  Henry  VIII,  March  23,  1546. 

297 


THE    REFORMATION 

crossed  the  channel  than  O'Conor,  who  was  now 
joined  by  his  relative  and  neighbour,  Gilpatrick 
O'Moore,  came  for  the  second  time  into  violent 
collision  with  Lord  Justice  Brabazon. 

It  is  probable  that  this  last  outbreak  was  not 
unconnected  with  a  rising  which  took  place 
about  the  same  time  in  the  Pale,  and  in  which 
some  of  the  Geraldines,  Eustaces,  and  other 
Anglo-Irish  families  were  involved.  The 
government  was  kept  in  constant  alarm  by 
rumours  that  the  Earl  of  Kildare  was  about 
to  return  to  Ireland,  and  George  Paris,  a  relative, 
perhaps  a  son,  of  the  unfortunate  constable  of 
Maynooth,  was  intriguing  with  France  and 
Scotland  in  the  Geraldine  interest.^  In  the 
summer  of  154.6  some  kinsmen  and  followers 
of  the  Kildare  family  took  arms  under  the 
leadership  of  "  Maurice  of  the  Woods,"  a  natural 
son  of  the  Sir  James  FitzGerald  who  had  been 
executed  in  1537,  and  over-ran  a  great  part  of 
the  counties  of  Kildare  and  Carlow.  After 
holding  out  for  more  than  a  year  the  insurgents 
were  defeated  and  their  leader  taken  prisoner 
and  hanged  at  Dublin. 

In  the  same  year  the  Lord  Justice  again 
invaded  Leix  and  Offaly,  which  he  laid  waste 
as  far  as  the  hill  of  Croghan,  "  without  receiving 

^  Privy  Council  to  Bellingham,  December  i,  1547.  Alen 
to  Paget  and  Somerset,  November  21,  1548.  For  Paris  see 
also  Lord  Justice  and  Council  to  the  Privy, Council,  March 
26,  1550. 

298 


THE    REFORMATION 

either  battle  or  submission."  The  O'Moores 
retaliated  by  burning  Athy  ;  and  although  a 
second  punitive  expedition  resulted  in  the 
capture  of  Dengen — the  modern  Philipstown 
— which  became  the  seat  of  an  English  garrison, 
the  war  still  smouldered  ;  nor  did  even  the 
return  of  St.  Leger  lead  to  a  restoration  of  the 
former  tranquillity.  Another  sharp  campaign 
followed  :  O'Dunn,  O'Dempsey  and  the  rest 
of  the  lesser  chiefs  submitted  ;  and  O'Moore 
and  O'Connor,  deserted  by  their  clansmen  and 
vassals,  took  refuge  in  Connaught.^ 

In  April,  1548,  St.  Leger  was  recalled,  and 
Sir  Edward  Bellingham  was  appointed  to  succeed 
him.  It  is  significant  that  this  appointment, 
which  envolved  an  entire  change  of  policy,  and  1548 
of  which  the  results  were  in  the  highest  degree 
disastrous,  was  due,  not  to  any  dissatisfaction 
with  St.  Leger's  administration — for,  if  we 
except  the  immediate  connections  of  the  House 
of  Ormond,  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  who 
hated  him  for  his  moderation,  and  Alen,  who 
plotted  persistently  against  five  successive 
deputies,  the  Lord  Deputy  was  universally 
beloved — but,  like  many  similar  appointments 
in  more  recent  times,  to  the  exigencies  of  English 
party  politics.  During  the  interval  which 
elapsed  between  the  fall  of  Cromwell  and  the 
death     of    Henry,     the  eflx)rts  of  the  English 

^  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters^  1546-47. 
299 


THE    REFORMATION 

reformers  had  met  with  a  serious  check. 
Ahhough  resolute  in  asserting  his  own  supre- 
macy and  keeping  a  firm  grasp  upon  the  property 
of  the  religious  houses,  the  King,  during  the 
last  six  years  of  his  reign,  had  done  nothing  to 
promote,  or  rather  had  spared  no  effort  to 
prevent  the  propagation  of  the  new  doctrines. 
On  the  accession  of  Edward  VI  the  control  of 
English  policy  passed  into  the  hands  of  his 
uncles,  the  Seymours,  who  were  completely 
identified  with  the  Protestant  party,  and  fresh 
religious  changes  immediately  followed.  The 
Seymours  and  their  friends  neither  knew  nor 
cared  anything  about  Irish  affairs ;  but  it  was 
assumed,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  the  eccle- 
siastical institutions  of  the  dependency  must  be 
assimilated  to  those  of  the  ruling  country  ;  and 
this,  since  Ireland  showed  no  signs  of  spon- 
taneous conformity,  involved  of  necessity  a 
reversal  of  St.  Lcger's  policy  and  a  return  to 
the  old  methods  of  coercion. 

Of  Bellingham's  early  life  we  know  very 
little.  He  is  said  to  have  owed  his  first  advance- 
ment to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  ;  but,  if  this  was 
so,  he  certainly  did  not  share  the  religious 
opinions  of  his  patron.  He  afterwards  held 
various  military  and  diplomatic  appointments 
in  France,  Hungary  and  elsewhere  ;  but  it  was 
as  governor  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  during  the 
French  invasion  of  1545,  that  he  earned  his 
chief  title   to    distinction.     He   was    employed 

300 


THE    REFORMATION 

in  Ireland  during  the  summer  of  1 547  as  com- 
mander of  the  forces,  when  he  distinguished 
himself  by  vigorously  opposing  the  liberal  policy 
of  the  Deputy.  His  appointment  marks  the 
reversal  of  St.  Leger's  policy  of  conciliation, 
and  was  hailed  as  a  triumph  by  the  violent 
party. ^ 

Bellingham  had  no  sooner  set  foot  in  Ireland 
than  the  whole  country  was  up  in  arms.  "The 
rough  handling  of  the  Deputy  " — so  Desmond 
afterwards  told  Sir  John  Alen — "  put  the  Irish 
in  such  fear  that  they  all  conspired  against 
him."  This  was  probably  the  truth,  although 
Alen  himself  attributed  the  rising  to  "  the 
matter  of  religion  "  and  the  machinations  of 
Wauchop,  "  the  blind  bishop  that  came  from 
Scotland  out  of  Rome."^  Every  province  was 
more  or  less  disturbed ;  but  the  most  serious 
outbreak  took  place  in  Leix  and  OfFaly,  where 
the  population,  in  addition  to  the  general 
grievances,  had  local  and  personal  causes  of 
discontent. 

About  the  beginning  of  1548  the  banished 
chiefs  re-crossed  the  Shannon,  and  throughout 
the  spring  and  summer  of  that  year  a  fierce 
guerilla  warfare  raged  along  the  western  frontier 
of  the  Pale.  But  the  insurrection  was  speedily 
suppressed,  and  the  insurgents  were  ruthlessly 
butchered.         The     oldest     man     in     Ireland, 

^  Carew  MSS,^  vol.  ii,  preface,  p.  Ixxxv. 
^  Sir  John  Alen  to  Thomas  Alen,  February,  1550. 
301 


THE    REFORMATION 

Bellingham  informed  the  Privy  Council,  had 
never  seen  so  many  Irishmen  killed  in  one  day, 
"  such  was  the  great  goodness  of  God,  to  deliver 
them  into  our  hands."'  The  disturbances  can 
have  had  little  connection  with  religion,  for  they 
broke  out  again  in  the  next  reign ;  but  the 
language  and  conduct  of  Bellingham  afford 
ominous  indications  of  the  influence  which  the 
cult  of  the  Hebrew  Moloch  was  beginning  to 
exercise  upon  English  thought. 

O'Conor  submitted  in  November, and  O'Moore 
in  the  following  year.  The  two  chiefs  were  sent 
to  London,  where  they  were  thrown  into  prison, 
and  where  O'Moore  not  long  afterwards  died. 
The  lands  of  the  defeated  tribes  were  annexed 
to  the  Pale,  and  were  subsequently  "planted" 
with  English  colonists.' 

In  other  parts  of  the  island  the  Lord  Deputy 
was  less  fortunate.  His  military  expeditions 
were  characterized  by  vigour  and  ability,  and 
were  attended  with  a  considerable  measure  of 
success ;  but  they  added  much  more  to  the 
unpopularity  than  to  the  prestige  of  the  govern- 
ment.      The    fortifications     of    Athlone    were 

^  Bellingham  to  the  Privy  Council,  August,  1548.  See  also 
several  letters  of  John  Brereton,  Richard  Aylmer,  Francis 
Cosbie,  and  others  to  Bellingham  in  July  of  this  year. 

-  Alen  to  Paget,  November  21,  1548.  Lord  Protector  and 
Council  to  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  of  Ireland,  January  6, 
1549.  Ware  [Annals^  1548)  erroneously  represents  O'Conor 
and  O'Moore  as  having  accompanied  St.  Leger  to  England  in 
the  summer  of  that  year.      Cf.  Four  Masters^  I547' 

302 


THE    REFORMATION 

repaired,  and  garrisons  were  established  in  the 
most  remote  parts  of  Ulster,  Munster,  and 
Connaught.  But  these  garrisons  were  involved 
in  constant  quarrels  with  the  native  tribes,  and, 
being  too  small  to  maintain  themselves  without 
aid  from  the  Pale,  were  a  source  of  more  weak- 
ness than  strength.  The  chiefs  who,  under  the 
mild  rule  of  Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger,  had  been 
growing  rapidly  loyal,  either  went  into  open 
rebellion  or  maintained  a  dubious  and  menacing 
neutrality.  With  the  Englishry,  and  with  his 
own  colleagues  in  the  Council,  Bellingham  was 
equally  unpopular.  During  his  short  vice- 
royalty — he  held  office  for  little  more  than  a 
year — he  was  engaged  in  constant  quarrels  with 
the  bishops,  who  had  acknowledged  the  royal 
supremacy,  but  refused  to  give  up  the  Mass ; 
with  the  Dublin  junto,  who  shared  his  Pro- 
testant opinions,  but  resented  his  arbitrary 
temper,  and  with  Sir  Francis  Bryan,  who  had 
married  the  widowed  Countess  of  Ormond,  and 
was  pursuing  the  traditional  policy  of  the 
Ormond  family.  Alen,  who,  since  the  recall 
of  St.  Leger,  was  once  more  Chancellor,  again 
led  the  attack  upon  the  Deputy.  Bellingham, 
he  admitted,  was  the  best  man  of  war  that  he 
had  ever  known  in  Ireland  ;  and  he  could  only 
lament  that  Jupiter  and  Venus  had  been  less 
bountiful  to  him  than  Mars  and  Saturn. 
"  Nevertheless,"  he  continued,  "  it  is  as  well 
to  have  no  Council.     He  doth  all  himself,  and 

303 


THE    REFORMATION 

no  man  dare  say  the  contrary,  except  sometimes 
little  I,  and  that  seldom.  Nay,  he  saith  at  times 
that  the  King  hath  not  so  great  an  enemy  in 
Ireland  as  the  Council  is  ;  and  that  if  they  were 
all  hanged  it  were  a  good  deed.  Sometimes, 
when  he  committeth  a  man  in  anger  to  ward, 
he  will  say:  'Content  thyself,  for  I  do  no  worse 
to  thee  than  I  will  do  to  the  best  of  the  Council 
if  he  displeases  me.'  "  Lord  Leonard  Gray,  in 
his  most  arbitrary  mood,  had  been  less  insolent. 
Alen  after  a  time  ceased  to  attend  the  meetings 
of  the  Council,  alleging  ill-health  as  his  excuse. 
In  reality  he  was  unable  to  agree  with  the  Lord 
Deputy  and  afraid  to  oppose  him.  The  excuse 
was  harshly  brushed  aside.  "  By  God's  body," 
exclaimed  Bellingham,  "  whensoever  my  Lord 
Chancellor  goeth  to  work  mischief  he  feigneth 
himself  sick."  ^ 

The  clergy  fared  no  better  than  the  lay 
officials.  In  defiance,  not  only  of  public  opinion 
and  the  unbroken  usage  of  centuries,  but  even 
of  the  law  of  the  land,  Bellingham  attempted  to 
suppress  the  Mass  and  to  introduce  some  sort 
of  reformed  liturgy.  FitzWilliam,  the  Treasurer 
of  St.  Patrick's,  and  a  man  of  some  importance, 
opposed  the  innovation,  and  received  a  stern 
warning.^    To  the  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  who, 

^  Alen  to  Paget,  April  21,  1549. 

^  "  Mr.  FitzWilliam,  whereas  I  am  informed  that  godly 
and  true  order  is  set  forth  in  the  Church,  grounded  upon 
holy  writ,  the  King's  Majesty's  injunctions  being  consonant 


THE    REFORMATION 

although  appointed  by  the  crown,  had  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  Catholic  party,  the 
Deputy's  language,  if  more  courteous,  was 
equally  peremptory.  "  My  Lord  Primate,"  he 
wrote,  "  I  pray  you  lovingly  and  charitably  to 
be  circumspect  in  your  doings,  and  consider 
how  God  hath  liberally  given  you  divers  gifts, 
and  namely  of  reputation  among  the  people, 
which  requireth  a  great  consideration  at  all 
times,  as  well  in  your  acts  as  words.  Where- 
fore, I  require  you,  let  all  these  be  with  the 
gratuity  of  setting  forth  the  plain,  simple,  and 
naked  truth  recompensed ;  and  the  way  to  do 
this  is  to  know  it ;  which,  with  a  mild  and 
humble  spirit  wished,  sought,  and  prayed  for, 
will  most  certainly  be  given."  ^ 

Nor  did  Bellingham  always  succeed  in  retain- 
ing the  confidence  of  the  home  government. 
He  interfered  incessantly  with  every  branch  of 
the  administration,  set  aside  the  decisions  of  the 

thereunto  ;  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  English  minister  thereof 
yet  notwithstanding  you  have  gone  about  to  infringe  the  same 
first,  being  moved  of  charity,  I  require  you  to  omit  so  to  do 
and  by  authority  I  command  you,  as  a  thing  that  may  not  be 
suffered,  you  incite  nor  stir  no  such  sin  amongst  the   King's 
faithful  and  Christian  subjects  :   for  if  you  do,  as  by  likelihood 
you  are  incited  to  do   it,   thinking  for  friendship  it  shall  be 
suffered  and  overpassed  in  you,  being  a  spectacle  to  the  people 
more  than  the  rest,  the  which  may  be  an  occasion  of  much  ill  ; 
so,  if  you  amend  not,  your  punishment  shall  be  an  occasion  for 
other  men  to  beware.     Trust  me,  as  they  say  commonly,  it 
shall  not  go  with  you." — Bellingham  to  Fitz William  (1548  ?). 
^  Bellingham  to  Dowdall,  December,  1548. 

305  X 


THE    REFORMATION 

law  courts,  and  committed  persons  whom  he 
disliked  to  prison  without  legal  warrant.  The 
Earl  of  Warwick,  who,  although  an  unprincipled 
scoundrel,  often  gave  sound  advice  when  his 
personal  interests  were  not  at  stake,  ventured  to 
hint  that  this  activity  was  unnecessary,  and  that, 
while  the  law  must  be  enforced,  the  law  was 
not  necessarily  identical  with  the  personal  preju- 
dices of  the  Lord  Deputy.  "  My  lord,"  replied 
Bellingham,  "I  am  at  your  honourable  lordship's 
commandment,  as  Bellingham,  as  much  as  any 
servant  you  have  ;  but,  in  respect  I  am  the 
King's  Deputy,  your  good  lordship  may  deter- 
mine surely  that  I  will  have  none  in  Ireland 
exempt  from  my  authority,  but  sore  against  my 
will."  As  to  over-riding  the  decisions  of  the 
judges,  he  did  so  "that  all  here  may  know  that 
I  am  the  King's  Deputy ;  so  that  they  shall 
think,  when  they  have  my  favours  things  go 
well  with  them,  and  the  contrary  when  they 
have  them  not."  ^  A  suggestion  from  Somerset 
that  the  chiefs,  if  they  were  reasonably  treated, 
might  render  valuable  assistance  in  maintaining 
order,  and  that  the  interest  of  England  was  not 
likely  to  be  advanced  by  outraging  the  most 
influential  class  in  the  country,  was  still  more 
ungraciously  received.  "  I  pray  God,"  wrote 
the  indignant  Deputy,  "  rather  these  eyes  of 
mine    should    be   shut    up,   than   it    should    be 

^  Bellingham  to  Warwick,  November  22,  1548. 
306 


THE    REFORMATION 

proved  true ;  or  that  during  the  time  of  my 
deputation  I  should  not  make  a  horseboy  sent 
from  me  to  do  as  much  as  any  should  do  that 
brought  not  good  authority  with  them,  how 
great  soever  they  were  in  the  land."  ^  The 
writer  of  these  letters  may  have  had  many 
virtues,  but  he  was  not  likely  either  to  conciliate 
the  Irish,  to  teach  them  to  respect  the  law,  or  to 
soften  their  prejudices  against  the  Reformation. 
Bellingham  is  more  honourably  remembered 
as  "  a  very  true  payer  of  all  men,"  who  "  never 
took  anything  from  any  man  but  that  he  truly 
paid  for  " — conduct  apparently  so  unusual  as  to 
deserve  repeated  mention ;  but  he  was  above 
and  before  all  things  a  soldier — "  he  ware  ever 
his  harness,  and  so  did  all  those  he  liked  of" — 
and  he  laboured,  perhaps  unconsciously,  to 
provoke  hostilities  which  would  afford  him  an 
opportunity    of    displaying    his    talents.^      The 

■•  Bellingham  to  Issam,  November,  1 548.  The  Lord  Deputy 
subsequently  apologized  for  these  letters.  See  his  letter  to 
Seymour,  enclosing  one  to  Somerset,  December,  1548. 

^  "  After  him  Sir  Edward  Bellingham,  a  good  man,  a  very 
true  payer  of  all  men,  and  never  took  anything  but  that  he 
paid  for  ;  and  in  his  time  OfFaly  and  Leix  were  won,  and  a 
strong  fort  was  builded  in  every  of  them  ;  and  after,  being 
sent  for  into  England,  he  there  died.  This  man  had  cesses 
worse  than  St.  Leger  ;  but,  for  his  own  horses,  wholly  was 
kept  in  his  own  stables,  and  paid  for  all  he  took,  and  was  a 
true-dealing  man.  He  could  not  abide  the  cry  of  the  poor. 
He  never  in  his  time  took  anything  of  any  man  but  that  he 
truly  paid  for  ;  he  ware  ever  his  harness,  and  so  did  all  those 
he  liked  of." — Book  of  Howthy  p.  195. 


THE    REFORMATION 

English  ministers  were  far  too  zealous  for  the 
propagation  of  the  gospel  to  feel  remorse  at  the 
slaughter  of  any  number  of  popish  wood-kerne  ; 
but  incessant  warfare  was  expensive,  especially 
with  a  Deputy  who  insisted  on  the  punctual 
payment  of  his  soldiers ;  and  in  the  autumn 
of  1549  Bellingham  was  recalled  to  England, 
where  he  died  a  few  months  later.  After  an 
interval,  during  which  the  sword  of  state  was 
successively  entrusted  to  Bryan  and  Brabazon, 
St.  Leger  was  reinstated  in  office,  and  peace, 
retrenchment,  and  reform  were  once  more  the 
order  of  the  day.^ 

The  state  of  the  country  when  he  landed  was 
more  than  usually  critical.  To  form  a  league 
with  Scotland  and  Ireland  against  the  predomi- 
nant partner  had  long  been  a  favourite  object  of 
French  policy,  and  in  November,  1548,  a  report 
reached  Dublin  that  the  Earl  of  Kildare — who 
was  generally  regarded  on  the  continent  as  the 
rightful  King  of  Ireland — was  at  Dumbarton, 
that  he  was  about  to  be  married  to  the  young 
Queen  of  Scots,  and  that  he  would  receive  the 
support  of  France  in  an  attempt  to  assert  his 
claim  to  the  crowns  of  both  kingdoms.^     The 

^  Bellingham  left  Ireland  December  16,  1549,  ^^^  ^^^^ 
early  in  the  following  year. — Patent  Rolls^  pp.  189,  223. 
I  have  been  unable  to  discover  whether  he  remained  in  office 
until  his  death.  The  State  Papers  are  missing  from  June  29, 
1549,  to  February  2,  1550. 

^  Depositions  of  John  Ladweke  and  Thomas  Werdon, 
January   6,    1548-9. — State  Papers^  Domestic  Series,  III,   5. 

308 


THE    REFORMATION 

report  appears  to  have  been  without  foundation, 
at  least  so  far  as  Kildare's  presence  in  Scotland 
was  concerned,  but  George  Paris,  the  Earl's 
faithful  follower,  was  plotting  with  the  Geral- 
dines  and  O'Conors  in  his  patron's  interest. 
From  the  Pale  Paris  made  his  way  to  Ulster, 
whence,  in  the  autumn  of  i  549,  he  crossed  over 
to  Scotland  to  solicit  assistance  from  the  Scotch 
government. 

The  "  rough  handling  "  of  Bellingham  had 
produced  its  natural  results,  and  the  chiefs  who 
only  two  years  earlier  had  been  enthusiastically 
loyal  were  now  eager  to  throw  off  the  English 
yoke  and  to  become  subjects  of  France.  Scotland, 
under  the  rule  of  Mary  of  Guise,  was  wholly 
governed  by  French  influence,  and  the  letters 
which  O'Neil  had  entrusted  to  Paris  were 
intended  as  much  for  the  French  ambassador 
as  for  the  Queen  Regent.  Two  thousand 
"  hacbuters,"  two  hundred  light  cavalry,  and 
four  cannon  were  described  as  the  smallest  force 
which  would  make  a  successful  insurrection 
possible. 

Paris  returned  in  February  accompanied  by 
two  Frenchmen  of  rank,  Raymond  de  Beccarie, 

Owing  to  a  confusion  between  the  new  and  old  style  these 
depositions  have  been  incorrectly  calendared  under  January, 
1548.  That  they  belong  in  reality  to  the  next  year  is  evident 
from  a  comparison  with  Alen's  letters  to  Paget  and  Somerset, 
November  21,  1548.  For  the  opinion  that  Kildare  was  the 
legitimate  King  of  Ireland  see  Bartholomew  Warner  to  Sir 
John  Wallop,  May  22,  1540. 


THE    REFORMATION 

Sieur  de  Fourqueval,  and  Jean  de  Monluc, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Valence.  The  latter  was 
attended  by  a  page,  the  young  James  Melville, 
to  whose  Memoirs^  written  many  years  after- 
wards, we  are  indebted  for  a  curious  and  by  no 
means  an  edifying  account  of  his  patron*s  adven- 
tures. Wauchop,  the  blind  Scotchman  whom 
Paul  III  had  provided  to  Armagh,  arrived  in 
Ulster  a  few  days  later. 

The  travellers  landed  near  Lough  Foyle,  and 
spent  the  first  night  at  the  house  of  a  gentleman 
who  had  married  O'Dogherty's  daughter.  On 
the  next  day  they  proceeded  to  O'Dogherty's 
castle  of  Innishowen,  "  whilk  is  a  great  dark  tower 
where  we  had  cauld  cheer,  as  hering  and  biskit, 
for  it  was  Lentroun."  Melville,  and  probably 
Monluc  also,  would  have  preferred  a  less  ortho- 
dox host.  At  Innishowen  O'Neil,  O'Donel  and 
their  allies  were  assembled  to  receive  them,  and 
the  plans  for  the  approaching  insurrection  were 
eagerly  discussed.  The  negotiation  appeared  to 
be  making  favourable  progress  when  Monluc,  a 
true  son  of  the  renaissance,  whose  morals  fell 
short  even  of  the  not  very  severe  standard  of  his 
new  allies,  imperilled  the  success  of  his  mission 
by  an  attempt  to  seduce  his  host's  younger 
daughter.  Tamer  blood  than  that  of  an  Irish 
chieftain  might  well  have  boiled  at  this  insult, 
and  the  consequences  would  probably  have  been 
serious  if  some  English  friars,  who  had  taken 
refuge   in    Ulster    after    the    dissolution   of  the 

310 


THE    REFORMATION 

monasteries,  had  not  interv^ened  to  prevent  a 
scandal.  The  holy  men  acted  with  no  less 
generosity  than  discretion.  They  soothed  the 
irritation  of  O'Dogherty  ;  remonstrated  mildly 
with  the  bishop  ;  and,  lest  his  lordship's  health 
should  suffer  by  enforced  abstinence  from  his 
usual  pleasures,  provided  him  with  a  concubine 
whom  they  had  procured  in  the  first  instance 
for  their  own  use. 

The  negotiation  was  resumed  ;  butMonlucwas 
not  at  the  end  of  his  troubles.  Some  lingering 
sense  of  professional  decorum  led  him  to  conceal 
his  mistress  in  his  bed-chamber,  where,  finding 
time  hang  heavy  on  her  hands,  she  occupied 
her  leisure  in  ransacking  the  episcopal  wardrobe. 
Finding  a  small  glass  case,  and  concluding, 
"  because  it  had  an  odoriphant  smell,'*  that  it 
contained  some  sort  of  sweetmeat,  she  swallowed 
the  contents.  The  case,  in  reality,  was  "  a 
phial  of  the  most  precious  balm  that  grew  in 
Egypt,  which  Solyman,  the  great  Turk,  had 
given  as  a  present  to  the  bishop  after  he  had 
been  two  years  ambassador  in  Turkey,  and  was 
esteemed  worth  two  thousand  crowns."  It  is 
scarcely  surprising  that,  when  Monluc  dis- 
covered his  loss,  he  swore  like  a  trooper, 
betraying  "  his  harlotry  and  his  choler."  The 
friars  fled  ;  the  woman  followed  ;  and  the  suc- 
cessor of  the  apostles  lost  at  once  his  ointment 
and  his  mistress. 

Such  occurrences  were  too  common  in  Ireland 


THE    REFORMATION 

to  excite  more  than  a  passing  wonder  ;  the 
chiefs  enjoyed  a  hearty  laugh  at  their  guest's 
misadventure,  but  continued  to  cultivate  his 
friendship,  and  Monluc  made  atonement  for 
his  sins  by  accompanying  Wauchop  on  a  pil- 
grimage to  St.  Patrick's  Purgatory.  Before 
the  end  of  February  the  arrangements  for  the 
insurrection  had  been  completed,  and  O'Neil, 
O'Donel  and  O'Dogherty  had  taken  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  most  Christian  King  in 
the  castle  of  Donegal.' 

But  the  peace  which  was  concluded  a  month 
later  restored  Boulogne  to>  the  French,  and, 
with  the  restoration  of  Boulogne,  French 
interest  in  Irish  affairs  waned.  The  King, 
indeed,  continued  to  amuse  the  Irish  agents 
with  promises  ;  but  these  promises,  of  which 
the  English  embassy  was  kept  constantly  in- 
formed, were  intended  merely  as  a  hint  to 
Northumberland  that  it  would  be  dangerous 
to  adopt  an  aggressive  policy.  The  conspirators 
realized  that  the  favourable  moment  had  passed, 

^  Memoirs  of  Sir  James  Melville^  pp.  33-35. — Discours  jour  par 
jour  du  voyage  et  exploit  que  firent  Messiers  de  Montluc  et  de 
Fourquevaux  au  royaume  d' Hirlande  par  commandement  du  feu 
Roy  Henri  en  Panne  1549,  selon  que  le  diet  Fourquevaux  s'en  peut 
souvenir.  "  A  certain  Scottish  friar,  blind  of  both  his  eyes, 
named  Archbishop  of  Armachane,  accompanied  with  another 
archbishop  and  bishop  of  Ireland,  being  both  Irishmen,  was 
prepared  to  go  to  Ireland  after  Easter,  the  Bishop  of  Rome 
having  granted  him  divers  kinds  of  faculties  as  pardons,  dis- 
pensations, and  the  like." — Vannes  to  the  Council,  April  5, 
1 551. — State  PaperSy  Foreign  Series,  I,  82. 

312 


THE    REFORMATION 

and  hastened  to  make  their  peace  with  the 
government.^ 

On  March  4th  O'Donel  wrote  to  Brabazon, 
apologizing  for  having  received  the  blind  bishop. 
The  latter,  he  explained,  had  been  "  in  other 
places  and  countries  in  Ireland  before  he  came 
into  my  country  ";  and  he  did  not  acknowledge 
his  claim  to  the  primacy.  He  admitted  that 
he  had  seen  the  two  Frenchmen,  but  protested 
that  they  had  given  him  no  letters,  being  aware 
that  on  a  previous  occasion  he  had  transmitted 
a  similar  communication  to  the  government. 

Three  days  later  Tyrone  wrote  to  Dowdall 
in  the  same  spirit.  He  acknowledged  that  he 
had  received  letters  from  the  French  ambassador, 
and  that  he  had  had  an  interview  with  "  the 
blind  doctor  who  calls  himself  Primate.'*  At  the 
same  time  he  stoutly  asserted  his  own  loyalty  ; 
disclaimed  all  knowledge  of  George  Paris  ;  and 
vehemently  denied  that  he  had  returned  any 
answer  to  the  French  king's  communication. 
This  letter  Dowdall,  at  his  correspondent's 
request,  at  once  forwarded  to  Alen.  The  Lord 
Chancellor  in  reply  gravely  thanked  the  Earl 
for  his  loyalty,  while  sternly  warning  him 
against  the  possible  consequences  of  French  in- 
tervention. The  envoys  might  pretend  that  it  was 
their  intention  to  injure  none  but  Englishmen  ; 

^  Sir  John  Mason  to  the  Privy  Council,  June  14,  1550,  and 
April  18,  1 5  5 1 .  Fraser  Ty tier's  England  under  Edward  VI 
and  Mary^  I,  291,  351. 


THE    REFORMATION 

but,  if  the  French  once  set  foot  in  Ulster, 
they  would  never  rest  until  they  had  reduced 
the  whole  island  to  slavery.  In  Italy  and  Sicily, 
which  they  had  formerly  conquered,  they  had 
been  guilty  of  atrocities  which  had  ended  in 
their  own  expulsion.  The  Turks,  barbarous  as 
they  were  considered,  might  almost  be  called 
humane  and  merciful  in  comparison. 

With  all  his  zeal  for  the  Mass  Dowdall  had  no 
intention  of  renouncing  his  claim  to  the  primacy. 
He  watched  his  rival's  movements  with  anxiety, 
and  reported  to  Alen  that  he  was  "a  very 
shrewd  spy  and  a  great  brewer  of  war  and  sedi- 
tion." It  is  evident  that  he  was  greatly  disturbed 
by  Tyrone's  letter ;  but,  after  a  visit  to  the  Earl 
at  Armagh,  he  wrote  again  in  a  more  hopeful 
strain.  He  announced  that  a  Franco-Scotch 
armament  was  being  prepared  to  invade  Ulster 
in  the  summer ;  that  the  French  had  already 
"manned  and  stuffed  with  ordnance  two  castles 
in  O'Dogherty's  country,"  and  that  Wauchop, 
who  was  with  O'Donel  at  Derry,  was  working 
in  their  interest.  But  he  was  convinced  that 
Tyrone  was  loyal,  and  that,  so  long  as  Tyrone 
was  loyal,  the  hostility  of  the  lesser  chiefs  might 
be  safely  disregarded.' 

The   new  Deputy  had    no  sooner  arrived  in 

^  Brabazon  to  the  Privy  Council,  March  26,  1550,  enclosing 
(i)  O'Donel  to  Brabazon,  March  4;  (2)  Tyrone  to  Dowdall, 
March  7  ;  (3)  Alen  to  Tyrone,  March  15.  Dowdall  to  Alen, 
March  22. 

3^A- 


THE    REFORMATION 

Dublin  than  he  attended  high  Mass  at  Christ 
Church,  "and  there  after  the  old  sort  offered 
to  the  altar  of  stone,  to  the  great  comfort  of  his 
too  many  like  Papists,  and  discouragement  of 
the  professors  of  God's  Word."  To  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  who  remonstrated  with  him 
upon  the  sin  of  idolatry,  St.  Leger  answered 
scornfully :  "  Go  to,  go  to,  your  matters  of 
religion  will  mar  all,"  and  handed  his  Grace 
a  tract,  "so  poisoned,"  wrote  the  scandalised 
prelate,  "to  maintain  the  Mass,  with  transub- 
stantiation  and  other  naughtiness,  as  at  no  time 
have  I  seen  such  a  summary  of  scriptures  col- 
lected to  establish  that  idolatry."'  In  spite  of 
Browne's  insinuations  there  is  no  reason  to  sus- 
pect the  Lord  Deputy  of  Catholic  sympathies ; 
but  his  attitude  on  religious  questions  was  very 
like  Gibbon's,  and  he  had  no  intention  of  allowing 
his  policy  to  be  shipwrecked  on  the  rocks  of 
fanaticism. 

His  task,  even  without  this  addition,  was 
sufficiently  difficult.  The  administration  was 
thoroughly  corrupt  in  all  its  branches.  The 
Council  were  quarrelling  with  each  other  and 
abusing  each  other,  and  agreed  only  in  traducing 
and  conspiring  against  the  Deputy.  The  revenue 
was  wholly  unequal  to  the  cost  of  government, 
and  the  attempts  which  had  been  made  to 
improve    it    had    only    increased    the    financial 

^  Browne  to  Warwick,  August  6,  1551. 

3^5 


THE    REFORMATION 

confusion.  Having  contracted  liabilities  which 
it  was  unable  to  meet,  the  English  govern- 
ment was  attempting  to  escape  from  its  diffi- 
culties by  robbing  the  public  creditor.  The 
coinage  was  reduced  by  successive  depreciations 
to  about  one-fourth  of  its  nominal  value,  and 
the  results  which  followed  were  such  as  any 
prudent  statesman  must  have  foreseen.  Com- 
plaints poured  in  from  all  quarters  of  the  rise  of 
prices,  of  the  dearth  of  provisions,  of  the  ruin 
of  trade.  Less  culpable,  but  hardly  more  suc- 
cessful, was  the  scheme  for  obtaining  bullion 
from  the  silver  mines  of  Wexford.  Ireland  had 
no  native  workmen  capable  of  turning  these 
mines  to  account;  the  miners  who  were  imported 
from  Germany  were  idle  and  inefficient,  and 
after  several  years  of  unremunerative  expenditure 
the  attempt  was  abandoned.' 

For  these  things  the  English  ministers 
were  responsible  ;  but  there  were  other  abuses 
which  originated  in  Ireland  itself.  Sir  Edward 
Bellingham  had  issued  a  commission  for  the 
"extinguishing  of  idolatry,"  and,  under  colour 
of  furthering  this  pious  object,  the  Protestant 
officials  at  Dublin  were  carrying  on  a  shameful 
traffic   in  jewels,   communion  plate,    and    other 

^Instructions  to  Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger,  July  1550.  St. 
Leger  and  others  to  the  Privy  Council,  May  20,  1551. 
Robert  Record,  Surveyor  of  Mines,  to  the  Privy  Council, 
February,  1552.  Book  of  check  of  the  Almain  miners, 
August  I,  1552. 

316 


THE    REFORMATION 

ornaments  which  they  had  stripped  from  the 
churches/  The  state  of  the  army  was  still  more 
scandalous.  The  government  robbed  the  officers; 
the  officers  robbed  the  soldiers ;  the  soldiers 
robbed  the  country.  The  fortresses  which 
Bellingham  had  built  in  Leix,  Offaly  and  else- 
where, contained  more  harlots  than  soldiers. 
The  troops,  ill-paid,  ill-disciplined,  scattered  in 
small  bodies  among  a  population  which  hated 
them,  and  commanded  by  officers  as  licentious, 
as  themselves,  were  wholly  useless  for  military 
purposes,  while  their  presence  was  a  constant 
provocation  to  rebellion." 

^  "Our  said  Deputy,  with  the  advice  aforesaid,  shall  give 
order  that  no  sale  nor  alteration  be  made  of  any  church  goods, 
bells,  chauntry  or  free  chapel  lands,  without  our  royal  assent ; 
and,  if  any  alteration  have  been  made,  to  reform  the  same,, 
and  that  they  shall  cause  inventories  to  be  made  in  every  parish 
as  well  of  such  goods,  ornaments,  jewels,  and  bells,  as  of  the 
chauntry  or  free  chapel  lands,  and  of  all  other  lands  given  to 
any  church  for  any  intent,  for  the  better  knowledge,  safe  and 
sure  keeping  together  of  the  premises,  and  of  every  part  thereof, 
lest  some  lewd  persons  might,  or  would  embezzle  the  same,  to 
the  detriment  of  the  parochians." — Instructions  to  Sir  Anthony 
St.  Leger,  July,  1550.  This  article  re-appears  in  the  instruc- 
tions to  Sir  James  Crofts  in  April,  1551.  The  commission 
issued  by  Bellingham  has  not  been  discovered,  but  it  is  mentioned 
in  a  letter  of  Walter  Cowley  to  Bellingham,  June  25,  1549. 

^  "In  the  forts  are  as  many  harlots  as  soldiers." — St.  Leger 
to  the  Lord  Treasurer,  September  27,  1550.  Froude  attri- 
butes the  relaxation  of  discipline  to  the  recall  of  Bellingham. 
"The  garrisons  fell  into  loose  habits  when  the  master's  eye 
was  off  them." — History  of  England^  V,  422.  But  similar 
complaints  had  been  made  at  least  as  early  as  Christmas,  1548. 
See  Wise  and  Morton  to  Bellingham,  January  6,  1548-9. 


THE    REFORMATION 

St.  Leger  set  himself  boldly  to  remedy  these 
abuses.  With  the  currency  indeed  he  could  do 
nothing  without  the  consent  ot  Northumberland, 
and  Northumberland  had  insuperable  objections 
to  financial  honesty.  But  the  aggressive  schemes 
of  Bellingham  were  silently  abandoned  ;  some  of 
the  garrisons  were  withdrawn  ;  the  discipline  of 
the  rest  was  reformed ;  conciliatory  letters  were 
addressed  to  various  native  chieftains,  and  con- 
fidence was  gradually  restored.  In  January  the 
1 55 1  Lord  Deputy  was  able  to  assure  Cecil  that  the 
King  had  five  thousand  more  hearts  in  Ireland 
than  at  his  arrival.' 

Of  the  officers  appointed  by  Bellingham  the 
most  active,  or,  in  other  words,  the  most  mis- 
chievous, was  Captain  Andrew  Brereton,  who 
commanded  the  garrison  of  Lecale.  This  dis- 
trict, a  portion  of  the  county  of  Down  which 
had  long  formed  an  outlying  part  of  the  Pale, 
adjoined  the  territory  of  an  Irish  sept  called 
MacArtan,  who  were  tributary  to  the  O'Neils. 
In  the  summer  of  1550,  a  little  before  St. 
Leger's  arrival  in  Ireland,  the  Earl  of  Tyrone 
sent  a  body  of  kerne,  among  whom  were  two  of 
his  wife's  brothers,  to  distrain  for  rent  due  to 
him  from  the  MacArtans.  The  proceeding  was 
not,  perhaps,  strictly  legal,  but  it  was  in  accord- 
ance with  the  usual  custom,  and  was,  in  fact, 
the  only  possible  means  of  recovering  a  debt  in 

^  St.  Leger  to  Cecil,  January  19,  1551. 

3'8 


THE    REFORMATION 

Ulster,  where  the  King's  writ  did  not  run.  But 
Brereton,  who  thought  the  opportunity  a  good 
one  for  forcing  a  quarrel  upon  the  O'Neils, 
attacked  the  distraining  party  and  murdered 
several  of  them,  including  the  countess's  two 
brothers.  Immediately  afterwards,  as  if  to  prove 
that  he  was  not  actuated  by  sympathy  with  the 
MacArtans,  he  seized  a  gentleman  of  the  sept 
and  caused  him  to  be  beheaded  "  without  any 
order  of  law."  Tyrone  acted  with  unusual  self- 
restraint.  Instead  of  taking  arms  he  journeyed 
to  Dublin  and  laid  a  formal  statement  of  his 
grievances  before  the  Council.  When  called 
upon  to  explain  his  conduct,  Brereton  replied 
insolently  "  that  he  would  make  answer  to  no 
traitor,  which  the  said  Earl  took  very  unkindly." 
"Such  handling  of  wild  men,"  in  the  opinion  of 
the  Deputy,  was  likely  to  do  much  harm  in 
Ireland ;  and  the  Council,  while  admitting 
that  Tyrone  was  "  a  frail  man  and  not  the 
perfectest  of  subjects,"  insisted  nevertheless  that 
Brereton's  conduct  had  been  neither  legal 
nor  politic.  Eventually  Brereton  was  deprived 
of  his  command,  which  was  conferred 
upon  Robert  St.  Leger,  a  son  of  the  Lord 
Deputy.^ 

Up  to  this  time  the  reformed  doctrines 
had  made  practically  no  progress  in  Ireland. 
Bellingham,  it  is  true,  is   said  to  have  gone  the 

^  St.  Leger  to  Cecil,  January  19.     The  Council  in  Ireland 
to  the  Privy  Council,  May  20,  1551. 


THE    REFORMATION 

right  way  for  setting  forth  God's  word;^  but 
his  efforts  appear  to  have  been  confined  to 
stripping  the  churches  of  their  ornaments  and 
to  prohibiting  some  parts  of  the  Cathohc  services 
without  providing  any  substitute.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1550,  St.  Leger  assured  the  Lord 
Treasurer  that  no  Protestant  service  had  been 
celebrated  in  Ireland  since  the  King's  accession, 
"  neither  communion  nor  other  service,"  and 
that  only  one  sermon  had  been  preached  during 
the  same  period,  "  which  the  Bishop  of  Meath 
made,  who  had  so  little  reverence  at  that  time 
as  he  had  no  great  haste  eftsoon  to  preach 
there."  ^  The  discourse  in  question  was 
delivered  in  Dublin  in  November,  1548.  The 
bishop,  in  a  letter  to  one  of  Bellingham's 
chaplains,  gives  a  most  lugubrious  account  of 
the  effects  of  his  eloquence.  "  You  have  not 
heard  such  rumour  as  is  here  all  the  country 
over  against  me,  as  my  friends  do  show  me. 
One  gentlewoman  unto  whom  I  did  christen  a 
man-child,  which  beareth  my  name,  came  in 
great  counsel  to  a  friend  of  mine,  desiring  how 
she  might  find  means  to  change  her  child's 
name.      And    he    asked    her    why  ?     And    she 

^  "  There  was  never  Deputy  in  this  realm  that  went  the 
right  way  as  he  doth,  both  for  the  setting  forth  of  God's 
word  to  his  honour  and  to  the  wealth  of  the  King's  Highness's 
subjects." — Brasier  to  Somerset,  November  14,  1548. 

'  St.  Leger  to  the  Lord  Treasurer,  September  27, 
1550. 

320 


THE    REFORMATION 

said  :  '  Because  I  would  not  have  him  bear  the 
name  of  an  heretic'  A  gentleman  dwelling 
nigh  unto  me  forbade  his  wife,  which  would 
have  sent  her  child  to  be  confirmed  by  me,  so 
to  do,  saying  his  child  should  not  be  confirmed 
by  him  that  denied  the  sacrament  of  the  altar. 
A  friend  of  mine  rehearsing  at  the  market 
that  I  would  preach  the  next  Sunday,  divers 
answered  they  would  not  come  thereat  lest  they 
should  learn  to  be  heretics.  A  beneficed  man 
of  mine  own  promotion  came  unto  me  weeping, 
and  desired  that  he  might  declare  his  mind  unto 
me  without  my  displeasure.  I  said  I  was  well 
content.  '  My  Lord,'  said  he,  '  before  you 
went  last  to  Dublin  you  were  the  best  beloved 
man  in  your  diocese  that  ever  came  into  it,  and 
now  you  are  the  worst  beloved  that  ever  came 
here.'  I  asked  wherefore  ?  '  Why,'  said  he, 
*  for  you  have  taken  open  part  with  the  heretics, 
and  preached  against  the  sacrament  of  the  altar, 
and  deny  saints,  and  will  make  us  worse  than 
Jews.  If  the  country  wist  how  they  would  eat 
you.'  He  besought  me  to  take  heed  of  myself ; 
for  he  feared  more  than  he  dared  tell  me.  He 
said,  '  You  have  more  curses  than  you  have 
hairs  on  your  head  ;  and  I  advise  you,  for 
Christ's  sake,  not  to  preach,  as  I  fear  you  will 
do.'  Hereby  you  may  perceive  what  case  I 
am  in,  but  put  all  to  God  ;  and  now,  as  my 
especial  friend  and  a  man  to  whom  my  heart 
beareth    earnest    affection,  I  beseech  you    give 

321  Y 


THE    REFORMATION 

me    your    advice,    not   writing   your   name   for 

h"  1 
ance. 

But  Cranmer  and  others  of  his  party,  who 
knew  nothing  of  Ireland,  were  bent  on  intro- 
ducing into  that  country  the  religious  practices 
which  had  recently  been  adopted  in  England  ; 
and  on  February  6th,  1551,  the  Lord  Deputy 
received  instructions  to  give  special  notice  to 
the  clergy  to  use  the  new  liturgy.'     The  Irish 

^  Staples  to ,  December,  1548. 

2  "  Whereas  our  gracious  father,  King  Henry  VIII  of 
happy  memory,  taking  into  consideration  the  bondage  and 
heavy  yoke  that  his  true  and  faithful  subjects  sustained  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  as  also  the  ignorance 
the  commonalty  were  in  ;  how  several  fabulous  stories  and  lying 
wonders  misled  our  subjects  in  both  our  realms  of  England  and 
Ireland,  grasping  thereby  the  means  thereof  into  their  hands  ; 
also  dispensing  with  the  sins  of  our  nations  by  their  indulgences 
and  pardons,  for  gain,  purposely  to  cherish  all  evil  vices,  as 
robberies,  rebellions,  thefts,  whoredoms,  blasphemy,  idolatry, 
etc.  He,  our  gracious  father,  King  Henry  of  happy  memory, 
hereupon  dissolved  all  priories,  monasteries,  abbeys  and  other 
pretended  religious  houses,  as  being  but  nurseries  for  vice  and 
luxury  more  than  for  sacred  learning.  He  therefore,  that  it 
might  more  plainly  appear  to  the  world  that  those  orders  had 
kept  the  light  of  the  Gospel  from  his  people,  thought  it  most  fit 
and  convenient,  for  the  preservation  of  their  souls  and  bodies, 
that  the  Holy  Scriptures  should  be  translated,  printed  and 
placed  in  all  parish  churches  within  his  dominions  for  his 
faithful  subjects  to  increase  their  knowledge  of  God  and  of 
our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  We,  therefore,  for  the  general 
benefit  of  our  well-beloved  subjects'  understandings,  whenever 
assembled  or  met  together  in  the  said  several  parish  churches, 
either  to  pray  or  hear  prayers  read,  that  they  may  the  better 
join  therein  in  unity,  heart  and  voice,  have  caused  the 
liturgy  and  prayers  of  the  Church   to   be  translated  into  our 

322 


THE    REFORMATION 

bishops  were  accordingly  summoned  to  Dublin 
on  March  ist,  to  be  instructed  in  the  doctrines 
which  they  were  thenceforth  expected  to  teach  ; 
and  an  extremely  curious  discussion  took  place. 
The  Primate  defended  the  orthodox  Catholic 
doctrine  ;  St.  Leger,  in  spite  of  his  recent 
attempt  to  convert  his  Grace  of  Dublin  to  a 
belief  in  transubstantiation,  argued  with  every 
appearance  of  sincerity  in  favour  of  the  reformed 
ritual  :  Archbishop  Browne  closed  the  discussion 
with  a  characteristic  appeal  to  the  authority  of 
the  secular  power.  "  This  order,  good  brethren, 
is  from  our  most  gracious  King,  unto  whom  I 
submit,  as  Jesus  did  to  Cssar,  making  no 
question  why  or  wherefore,  as  we  own  him  our 
just  and  lawful  King."  The  conference  ended 
with  the  secession  of  the  Primate  and  of  most 
of    the    other    bishops.      The    Archbishop    of 

mother-tongue  of  this  realm  of  England,  according  to  the 
assembly  of  divines  lately  met  within  the  same  for  that  purpose. 
We  therefore  will  and  command,  as  also  authorize  you,  Sir 
Anthony  St.  Leger,  our  viceroy  of  that  our  kingdom  of 
Ireland,  to  give  special  notice  to  all  our  clergy,  as  well  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  deans,  archdeacons,  as  others  our  secular 
parish  priests,  within  that  our  said  kingdom  of  Ireland,  to 
perfect,  execute  and  obey  this  our  royal  will  and  pleasure 
accordingly." — Harleian  Miscellany^  V,  6oo.  Three  weeks 
before  this  date,  however,  the  reformed  communion  service 
had  been  translated  into  Latin,  and  used  at  Limerick.  Why 
Limerick  should  have  been  selected  as  the  first  scene  of  the 
innovation  I  have  been  unable  to  discover.  It  was  certainly 
not  due  to  any  reforming  zeal  on  the  part  of  the  Bishop,  John 
Quin,  who  resigned  his  see  rather  than  consent  to  the  altera- 
tion.— St.  Leger  to  Cecil,  January  19,  1551 


THE    REFORMATION 

Dublin,  the  Bishop  of  Meath — the  only  prelate 
appointed  before  the  schism  who  had  adopted 
the  reformed  doctrines — and  the  Bishops  of 
Kildare,  Leighlin  and  Limerick,  all  appointed 
by  Edward,  and  all  decided  Protestants,  ranged 
themselves  on  the  side  of  the  Deputy/ 

But,  although  Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger  conde- 
scended to  appear  in  public  as  the  advocate  of 
the  reformed  doctrines,  he  neither  felt  nor  pro- 
fessed to  feel  any  enthusiasm  for  the  new  policy. 
A  proclamation  prohibiting  the  celebration  of 
the  Mass  was  issued  in  obedience  to  the  com- 
mands of  the  English  government,  but  the 
proclamation  was  disregarded,  and  the  dis- 
obedience remained  unpunished.  When  taxed 
with  negligence  the  Lord  Deputy  answered 
testily  that  he  had  done  what  he  could,  but  that 
he  wished  the  King  would  have  found  him 
any  other  employment.  On  another  occasion 
he  was  even  more  outspoken.     "  If  the  Lords  of 

^  Sir  James  Ware  says  that  the  bishops  who  accepted  the 
new  liturgy  were  Browne,  Staples,  Lancaster  of  Kildare, 
Travers  of  Leighlin,  and  John  Quin  of  Limerick. — IVorks^ 
I,  350.  But  there  is  an  error  as  to  the  last  name.  Quin 
had  resigned  on  this  very  ground  in  January.  See  last  note. 
If  a  Bishop  of  Limerick  was  present  it  must  have  been  the 
bishop-elect,  William  Casey,  who,  however,  was  not  conse- 
crated until  April.  In  Robert  Ware's  Historical  Collections  of 
the  Church  of  Ireland  set  forth  in  the  Life  of  George  Browne^ 
which  is  little  more  than  an  enlarged  edition  of  the  life  of 
Browne  by  his  father,  the  names  of  Travers  and  Quin  are 
omitted  and  that  of  John  Bale  substituted.  But  Bale  did  not 
become  Bishop  of  Ossory  until  nearly  a  year  later. 


THE    REFORMATION 

the  Council,"  he  is  said  to  have  exclaimed  in  a 
moment  of  irritation,  "  had  letten  all  things  in 
the  order  the  King's  father  left  them  and 
meddled  not  to  alter  religion,  neither  had  the 
rebellion  in  England  nor  all  these  hurley-burleys 
happened."^  The  Protestants,  as  was  natural, 
complained  bitterly  of  his  moderation.  In  May 
he  was  recalled,  and  Sir  James  Crofts  was 
appointed  to  succeed  him. 

The  new  Deputy  was  ordered  to  force  on 
religious  changes,  but  in  other  respects  to  con- 
tinue the  conciliatory  policy  of  his  predecessor. 
Like  St.  Leger,  Crofts  was  no  fanatic — it  is  sig- 
nificant that  he  recommended  Leverous,  one  of 
the  most  honest,  but  also  one  of  the  most  violent, 
of  the  Catholic  party  for  a  bishopric — but  he 
was  willing  enough  to  promote  in  an  official 
way  the  religious  views  of  whatever  government 
might  be  in  power.  He  had  no  sooner  taken 
office  than  he  exerted  himself  to  heal  the  breach 
which  Cranmer's  well-meant  zeal  had  occasioned. 
The  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  who  had  adopted 
an  attitude  of  uncompromising  hostility  to  the 

^  "  God  help  me,"  said  he,  "  for  mine  own  part,  knowing 
the  manner  and  ignorance  of  this  people,  when  my  lords  of 
the  Council  willed  me  to  set  forth  the  matters  of  religion 
here,  which  to  my  power  I  have  done^  I  had  rather  they  had 
sent  me  into  Spain,  or  any  other  place  where  the  King  should 
have  had  cause  to  make  war,  than  burdened  me  to  set  forth 
the  matters  of  religion  here,  and  I  told  my  lords  no  less  before 
my  coming  away." — Deposition  of  Sir  John  Alen,  April 
17,  1552. 


THE    REFORMATION 

Reformation,  was  residing  in  dignified  seclusion 
at  St.  Mary's  Abbey.  His  conduct  had  already 
given  rise  to  a  heated  discussion  in  the  Council, 
where  he  was  denounced  as  a  traitor  by  Browne 
and  Bagenall,  and  no  less  warmly  defended  by 
Cusack,  who  had  recently  succeeded  Sir  John 
Alen  as  Lord  Chancellor.^  To  him  Crofts  wrote, 
proposing  an  interview  with  a  view  to  effecting 
a  reconciliation.  The  Lord  Deputy's  letter, 
which  was  courteous  and  even  deferential  in  its 
tone,  affords  proof,  if  proof  were  needed,  of  the 
respect  in  which  Dowdall  was  held  by  all  save 
the  most  extreme  members  of  the  Protestant 
party.  The  Archbishop's  reply  was  equally 
cordial,  but  he  understood  better  than  his  cor- 
respondent the  difficulties  of  a  peaceful  solution. 

'  "This  massing,  with  the  like,  being  spoken  in  open  council 
against  by  Sir  Ralph  Bagenall  and  me,  that  it  was  too  much 
against  duty  to  suffer  the  Primate  so  to  contemn  the  King's 
proceedings,  and  required  he  might  be  called  before  him  and 
the  rest,  who  came  and  disputed  plainly  the  massing  and  other 
things,  contrary  the  King's  proceedings,  and  that  he  would 
not  embrace  them,  whereat  the  Deputy  said  nothing  ;  the 
same  Sir  Ralph  Bagenall  called  him  'arrant  traitor';  Sir 
Thomas  Cusack,  the  Chancellor,  the  said  Primate's  cousin, 
answered  :  '  Mr.  Bagenall,  no  traitor.'  So  the  Primate 
departed,  and  continued  as  he  did,  till  the  same  Mr.  St.  Leger 
was  discharged  of  the  deputation,  who,  coming  hither,  sent  a 
message  to  the  Earl  of  Tyrone  by  his  servant  :  '  Have  me 
most  heartily  commanded  to  my  lord  your  master,  and  pray 
him  in  every  wise  to  follow  the  counsel  and  advice  of  that 
good  father,  sage,  senator  and  godly  bishop,  my  lord  Primate, 
and  so  he  shall  do  well.'  " — Browne  to  Warwick,  August  6, 
1551. 

326 


I 


THE    REFORMATION 

He  thanked  the  Lord  Deputy  for  his  "  kind  and 
hearty  overtures,"  and  apologized  for  not  having 
waited  on  him  on  his  arrival.  He  begged  him 
to  believe  that  the  omission  w^as  due  to  no  lack 
of  personal  respect,  and  explained  that,  since  the 
promulgation  of  the  order  for  the  use  of  the 
new  liturgy,  he  had  ceased  to  hold  any  direct 
communication  with  the  government.  He 
would  willingly  do  all  in  his  power  to  restore 
peace  to  the  Church,  but  he  feared  that  little 
good  could  result  from  his  meeting  with  "an 
obstinate  number  of  churchmen."  He  would, 
however,  be  glad  to  receive  the  Deputy,  and  to 
listen  to  any  proposals  which  he  might  wish  to 
lay  before  him.^ 

The  conference  was  held  in  the  great  hall 
of  St.  Mary's  Abbey — the  same  hall  in  which, 
eighteen  years  earlier,  Thomas,  Lord  Offaly, 
had  renounced  his  allegiance  to  the  English 
government.  The  Primate,  who  was  attended 
by  a  goodly  number  of  churchmen,  appeared  as 
the  spokesman  of  the  Catholic  party  ;  Sir  James 
Crofts,  with  the  Bishops  of  Meath  and  of 
Kildare,  represented  the  reformers ;  Archbishop 
Browne,  whose  controversial  methods  were  more 
likely  to  irritate  than  to  convince  an  opponent, 
being  persuaded,  or  more  probably  ordered,  to 

^Crofts  to  Dowdall,  June  i6,  1551.  Dowdall  to  Crofts, 
June,  1 55 1.  These  letters  are  not  in  the  Record  Office. 
They  are  printed  in  Mant's  History  of  the  Church  of  Ireland^ 
206-207,  from  a  MS.  in  the  Sloane  collection  (No.  4784). 


THE    REFORMATION 

absent  himself.  The  discussion,  which  turned 
principally  on  the  alterations  in  the  communion 
office,  ended  as  all  such  discussions  must  end. 
Neither  disputant  could  make  any  impression  on 
his  adversary,  for  the  arguments  of  each  were 
based  on  premises  which  the  other  tacitly  re- 
jected. Dowdall  spoke  of  the  antiquity  of  the 
Mass;  Staples  argued  that  the  liturgy  was  merely 
the  Mass  purified  from  gross  and  comparatively 
modern  corruptions.  The  former  appealed  to  the 
authority  of  the  Church  ;  the  latter  cited  the 
opinions  of  Erasmus  and  the  German  reformers. 
"What,"  cried  Dowdall,  "is  Erasmus  of  more 
authority  than  the  Church  ?  "  "  Not  more  than 
the  Church  Catholic,"  answered  his  suffragan, 
"  but  more  than  the  Church  of  Rome ;  for  that 
Church  hath  erred."  "  Erred  !  "  exclaimed  the 
indignant  Primate  ;  "  the  Church  erred  .?  Take 
heed  lest  you  be  excommunicated."  "  I,"  re- 
plied Staples,  "  have  excommunicated  myself 
from  thence  already."  "  My  Lord,"  said  Dow- 
dall, turning  to  the  Lord  Deputy,  "  I  signified 
to  your  honour  that  it  was  vain  when  two 
parties  so  contrary  met ;  I  am  sorry  that  your 
lordship's  pains  have  been  lost."  "The  sorrow 
is  mine,"  replied  Crofts,  "that  your  Grace  can- 
not be  convinced."  "  My  Lord,"  answered 
Dowdall,  "  did  you  but  know  the  oaths  which 
we  bishops  take  at  our  consecration,  you  would 
not  blame  my  steadfastness."  Then,  turning 
once    more    to    Staples :     "  This    oath,    Master 

328 


THE    REFORMATION 

Staples,  you  took  with  others  before  you  were 
permitted  to  be  consecrated.  Consider  hereon 
yourself,  and  blame  not  me  for  persisting  as  I 
do."  The  Bishop  answered  that  he  had  indeed 
taken  the  oath,  but  that  he  "  held  it  safer  for 
his  conscience  to  break  than  to  observe  the 
same."  With  this  the  discussion  terminated.^ 
Not  long  afterwards  Dowdall,  realizing  that  his 
cause  was  hopeless,  retired  to  the  continent, 
saying  "  that  he  would  never  be  bishop  where 
the  holy  Mass  was  abolished."^ 

The  Primate's  contumacy,  for  as  such  of 
course  they  regarded  it,  was  in  the  highest 
degree  displeasing  to  the  English  government, 
and  Browne  promptly  availed  himself  of  their 
irritation  to  gratify  at  once  his  rapacity  and 
his  spleen.  A  contest  for  precedence  had  long 
raged  between  the  Archbishops  of  Armagh  and 
Dublin.  Of  the  two  sees  the  former  was  by  far 
the  more  ancient,  its  foundation  being  ascribed 
by  Irish  tradition  to  St.  Patrick,  and  was 
generally  considered  the  first  in  dignity  ;  while 
Dublin,  which  was  of  comparatively  modern 
origin,  had,  as  the  seat  of  government,  recently 
attained  to  greater  practical  importance. 

In  the  fourteenth  century  the  controversy 
had  been  temporarily  decided  by  a  bull  of 
Innocent  VI,  who  conferred  upon  Walter  Jorse, 
Archbishop  of  Armagh,  and  his  successors  the 

1  Shane  MSS.,  4784.     Mant,  I,  208-21 1. 
^Browne  to  Warwick,  August  6,  1551. 


THE    REFORMATION 

title  of  Primate  of  All  Ireland,  and  ordered  the 
Archbishops  of  Dublin  to  content  themselves 
with  the  more  modest  style  of  Primate  of 
Ireland.^  But  a  papal  bull  was  not  an  instru- 
ment which  Northumberland  and  his  colleagues 
were  disposed  to  regard  with  excessive  venera- 
tion ;  and,  at  Browne's  request,  an  order  in 
council  was  now  issued  by  which  the  "primacy 
of  the  whole  realm  "  was  definitely  transferred 
to  Dublin.  This  order,  of  which  the  legality 
was  very  doubtful,  was  accompanied  or  pre- 
ceded by  another  declaring  the  see  of  Armagh 
void  by  "  resignation."  A  bishop  could  not  be 
legally  deprived  except  after  a  trial  before  a 
spiritual  court ;  but  Dowdall,  like  James  II, 
was  held  to  have  forfeited  his  office  by  desert- 
ing his  post  without  making  provision  for  the 
discharge  of  his  duties." 

It  was  easier  to  deprive  a  recalcitrant  prelate 
than  to  find  a  suitable  successor.  The  Irish 
bishops  were  "negligent,  and  few  learned,  and 
none  of  any  good  zeal";  and  Englishmen,  as 
Strype  quaintly  puts  it,  "were  never  very  fond 

^  See  the  life  of  Walter  Jorse  in  Ware's  Works  (I,  72-76) 
where  the  history  of  the  controversy  is  related  at  great  length. 

-Ware  (I,  91)  states  that  the  primacy  was  transferred  to 
Dublin  on  October  20,  1551  ;  that  the  "high  stomach"  of 
Archbishop  Dowdall  "could  not  digest  this  affront";  that 
he  left  the  country,  and  that  his  see  was  thereupon  treated  as 
vacant  by  the  government.  This  is  certainly  incorrect,  as  it 
appears  from  some  instructions  to  a  Mr.  Wood,  dated  July 
28,  155 1,  that  Dowdall  had  left  Ireland  before  that  date. 


THE    REFORMATION 

of  living  in  Ireland."  On  November  iith 
Crofts  wrote  to  Northumberland  begging  him. 
lo  name  a  successor  to  Dov^dall,  and  also  to  fill 
the  sees  of  Ossory  and  Cashel,  both  recently 
vacant  by  the  deaths  of  their  respective  bishops. 
At  Armagh  he  was  anxious  to  place  "a  discreet 
man  of  war,  to  take  charge  as  a  commissioner 
in  those  parts."  Pending  a  definite  appoint- 
ment he  proposed  that  the  revenues  should  be 
assigned  to  Edward  Basnet,  who  had  obtained 
the  deanery  of  St.  Patrick's  by  a  simoniacal 
bargain  with  Cromwell,  and  had  surrendered 
it  by  a  simoniacal  bargain  with  Somerset, 
but  whose  moral  delinquencies  were  held  to 
be  sufficiently  counterbalanced  by  the  fact 
that  he  was  "  experimented  in  the  wars  of  the 
country."  For  Ossory  or  Cashel  the  Lord 
Deputy  recommended  "one  Leverous,  that  was 
schoolmaster  to  the  Lord  Garrett,  who  for 
learning,  discretion,  and,  in  outer  appearance, 
good  living,  is  the  metest  man  in  this  realm, 
and  best  able  to  preach  both  in  the  English 
and  the  Irish   tongue."^      For  some  months  no 

instructions  for  Mr.  Wood,  July  28,  1551.  Crofts  to 
Northumberland,  November  II,  1551.  To  Cecil,  March  15, 
1552.  In  an  undated  "Note  of  the  vacant  sees  in  Ireland,'^ 
Armagh,  Cashel  and  Ossory,  are  said  to  be  "void,"  and  the 
Bishop  of  Kildare  [Lancaster],  Mr.  Dethyk,  D.  Bale,  Mr. 
Leverous,  and  Mr.  Bicton,  are  described  as  "men  eligible  for 
the  same."  Bicton  had  been  chaplain  to  St.  Leger,  who 
recommended  him  for  a  bishopric  in  September,  1550.  This 
"note,"   which   must  have   been  written  about  this  time,  is 


THE    REFORMATION 

attention  was  paid  to  this  letter.  But  Crofts 
continued  to  press  his  suit,  and  in  the  autumn 
1552  of  1552  the  government  at  length  determined 
to  fill  the  vacant  sees.  The  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  was  consulted,  and  submitted  four 
names,  adding  that  he  knew  many  others  who 
were  well  qualified  for  the  office,  but  very 
few  who  would  gladly  go  thither.  Cranmer's 
nominees  were  David  Whitehead,  a  man  of 
"good  knowledge,  special  honesty,  fervent  zeal 
and  politic  wisdom,"  to  whom  Elizabeth  after- 
wards offered  the  see  of  Canterbury  ;  Richard 
Turner,  "a  man  merry  and  witty  withal"; 
Thomas  Roe,  and  Robert  Wisdom.  Of  these 
the  King  selected  Turner,  on  whom  Cranmer 
pronounced  a  glowing  eulogy — "  nihil  ardet, 
nihil  appetit,  nihil  somniat  nisi  Christum" — 
although  he  would  himself  have  preferred 
Whitehead.  But  Turner  declined  the  thankless 
office,  alleging  that,  if  he  went  to  Armagh,  "he 
must  preach  to  the  walls  and  stalls,  for  the 
people  understood  no  English."  The  arch- 
bishop, whose  own  ideas  about  Ireland  were  of 
the  vaguest  possible  description,  answered  hesi- 
tatingly that  there  were  places  in  Ireland 
where  the  population  understood  English,  "but 
whether  they  did  so  in  the  diocese   of  Armagh 

incorrectly  calendared  under  the  year  1561.  For  Basnet's 
simony  see  Brabazon  to  Cromwell,  April  24,  1538;  Basnet 
to  Cromwell,  April  14,  1538  (MS.R.O.);  Lord  Protector  and 
Privy  Council  to  Lord  Deputy  and  Council,  March  25,  1547. 


THE    REFORMATION 

he  did  indeed  doubt."  However,  "to  remedy 
that  inconvenience,"  and  also  to  make  "both 
his  person  and  doctrine"  more  acceptable  to  the 
people,  he  advised  him  to  learn  Irish,  "which, 
with  diligence,  he  might  do  in  a  year  or  two  " — 
an  opinion  from  which  most  of  those  who  have 
made  the  experiment  will  probably  dissent. 
But  Turner  continued  inflexible,  and  it  was  not 
until  the  archbishopric  had  been  refused  by 
each  of  Cranmer's  nominees  in  succession  that 
a  certain  Hugh  Goodacre,  who  had  been 
chaplain  first  to  the  Princess  Elizabeth  and 
afterwards  to  Ponet,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  was 
prevailed  upon  to  accept  it.^  At  the  same  time 
John  Bale,  another  chaplain  of  Ponet,  was 
nominated  to  the  see  of  Ossory.  To  Cashel, 
which  lay  in  a  disturbed  district,  and  would  not 
have  been  an  altogether  safe  residence  for  a 
reforming  prelate,  no  appointment  was  made. 

Of  Goodacre,  who  only  survived  his  conse- 
cration a  few  weeks,  we  know  very  little ;  the 
story,  which  has  often  been  repeated,  that  he 
was  poisoned  by  a  Roman  Catholic  priest,  rests 
upon  the  authority  of  one  very  untrustworthy 
witness.^    Bale  was  by  far  the  most  distinguished 

^  Strype's  Cranmer^  pp.  393,  399-400,  907. 

^  Bale's  Vocacyon^  p.  449.  I  cannot  regard  Burnet,  who 
repeats  the  story  [History  of  the  Reformation^  III,  377)  as  an 
independent  witness.  He  wrote  a  century  and  a  half  later  and 
derived  his  information  from  that  most  unreliable  of  all  sources, 
oral  tradition. 


THE    REFORMATION 

of  the  Anglo-Irish  reformers,  and  his  proceedings 
deserve  more  detailed  notice. 

Born  in  1495  at  Cove  near  Dunwich  in  the 
county  of  Suffolk,  educated  at  the  Carmelite 
School  at  Norwich  and  at  Jesus  College,  Cam- 
bridge, Bale  early  attached  himself  to  the 
extreme  wing  of  the  Protestant  party.  He  was 
not  a  man  to  conceal  his  opinions,  and  his  coarse 
ribaldry  brought  upon  him  the  hostility  not 
only  of  the  Catholics  but  of  all  the  most  respect- 
able Reformers.  He  was  twice  imprisoned,  first 
by  Lee,  Archbishop  of  York,  and  afterwards  by 
Stokesley,  Bishop  of  London  ;  on  each  occasion 
he  owed  his  release  to  the  intervention  of 
Thomas  Cromwell.  After  the  fall  of  his  patron 
and  the  temporary  triumph  of  the  Catholic  party 
in  England,  he  thought  it  wise  to  retire  to  the 
continent,  where  he  remained  until  the  death  of 
Henry.  Returning  to  England  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI,  he  plunged  fiercely  into  the  poli- 
tical and  doctrinal  controversies  of  the  day,  and 
speedily  became  known  as  one  of  the  most 
voluminous,  and  also  one  of  the  most  scurrilous, 
pamphleteers  of  the  age.  His  literary  abilities 
were  considerable  ;  his  learning  would,  even  in 
our  own  time,  be  considered  respectable  ;  to  the 
mass  of  his  contemporaries  it  may  well  have 
appeared  prodigious.  Of  his  theological  writings, 
in  which  vigour  and  coarseness,  wit  and  pedan- 
try, piety  and  profanity  are  strangely  blended, 
■this  is  not  the  place  to  speak  ;   but  Bale  was  also 

334 


THE   REFORMATION 

the  author  of  an  autobiographical  fragment, 
which  throws  a  vivid  light  both  upon  the 
opinions  of  the  reforming  party  in  general  and 
upon  the  writer's  unfitness  for  the  task  of  con- 
verting an  irritated  people.^ 

This  extraordinary  work,  of  which  the  title 
reads  The  Vocacyon  of  John  Bale  to  the  bishopric 
of  Ossory  in  Ireland,  his  persecutions  in  the  same 
and  his  final  deliverance,  was  printed,  if  we  may 
believe  the  colophon,  in  Rome,  before  the  Castle 
of  St.  Angelo,  at  the  sign  of  St.  Peter.^  The 
Vocacyon  opens  with  a  panegyric  upon  the 
apostle  Paul,  whom  the  writer  conceived  himself 
to  resemble.  To  the  unconverted  reader  the 
similarity  will  probably  appear  slight  enough, 
but  the  bishop  was  fond  of  these  scriptural 
analogies,  and  in  fact  owed  his  promotion  to  a 
tract  in  which  the  Duke  of  Northumberland, 
perhaps  the  most  dishonest  adventurer  who  ever 
misgoverned  a  great  nation,  is  made  the  subject 
of  a  much  more  audacious  comparison.^  The 
body  of  the  treatise  is  in  complete  harmony  with 
this  exordium.  It  is  a  fierce  diatribe  against  the 
Irish  people  and  their  religion,  interspersed  with 

^  Cooper's  Athena  Cantahrigienses,  I,  2 2 5-2 30.  Ware,  I, 
416.  Bale's  Dramatic  Works  were  reprinted  by  Mr.  Farmer 
in  1907. 

^  'R.G'^rmt&AmXhe.  Harleian  Miscellany, \o\.  vi,  pp.  437-464. 

^  The  apology  of  John  Bale  against  a  rank  Papist,  answering 
both  him  and  his  doctors,  that  neither  their  vows  nor  yet 
their  priesthood  are  of  the   Gospel,   hut  of  Antichrist.     London, 


1550.     8°. 


335 


THE    REFORMATION 

grotesque  eulogies  upon  the  author,  and  unspar- 
ing abuse  of  all,  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics, 
who  had  the  temerity  to  oppose  him.  He 
declaims  loudly  against  "  abominable  idolatries," 
"  apish  toys  of  Antichrist,"  "  sorrowful  sor- 
ceries," "hypocrites  yokes,"  "white  gods  of 
their  making,"  "  masking  masses,"  and  much 
more  in  the  choicest  style  of  theological  vitu- 
peration. The  magistrates,  if  we  may  believe 
this  veracious  witness,  were,  without  exception, 
corrupt  and  unprincipled ;  the  clergy,  regular 
and  secular  alike,  monsters  of  immorality  ;  the 
people  sunk  in  ignorance,  brutality  and  crime. 
"A  very  wicked  justice,"  we  are  told,  "resorted 
to  the  cathedral,  requiring  to  have  a  communion 
in  the  honour  of  St.  Anne  "  ;  whereupon  Bale 
breaks  out  :  "  Mark  the  blasphemous  blindness 
and  wilful  obstinacy  of  this  beastly  Papist." 
When  Lockwood,  the  Dean  of  Christchurch, 
advised  him  to  be  consecrated  in  the  traditional 
fashion  the  bishop  called  him  an  "  ass-headed 
dean,"  and  observed  with  ponderous  jocularity 
that  he  ought  rather  to  have  been  named  Block- 
head.   The  Bishop  of  Galway ' — it  is  difficult  to 

^  No  historian  has  yet  succeeded  in  establishing  the  identity 
of  this  singular  successor  of  the  apostles.  Bale  is  the  only 
writer  who  mentions  him,  and  from  Bale's  narrative  we  learn 
three  things,  (i)  He  was  called  "Bishop  of  Galway." 
(2)  He  lived  in  Leinster.  (3)  He  was,  at  least  nominally,  a 
Protestant.  Of  Richard  Nangle  we  also  know  three  things, 
(i)  He  was  appointed  by  Henry  VIII  to  the  see  of  Clonfert. 
(2)  Being  expelled  from  his  diocese  by  the  Burkes,  he  returned 


THE    REFORMATION 

identify  this  individual,  whose  see  is  unknown  to 
Irish  ecclesiastical  historians,  but  Richard  Nangle, 
the  fugitive  Bishop  of  Clonfert,  is  probably  the 
person  meant — is  described  as  a  drunkard,  who 
spent  his  days  in  confirming  young  children  at 
twopence  a  head  and  his  nights  in  swilling 
aquavitas  and  "robdavy."  Even  the  Archbishop 
of  Dublin,  whose  zeal  was  too  lukewarm  for 
this  ardent  reformer,  is  styled  "a  brockish 
swine,"  "  a  dissembling  proselyte,"  "  a  very 
pernicious  papist." 

Bale  sailed  from  Bristol  on  January  21st  and 
landed  two  days  later  at  Waterford,  where  he 
found  nothing  to  his  liking  either  in  religious  or 
civil  matters.  "  The  communion  or  supper  of 
the  Lord  was  there  used  altogether  like  a  popish 
Mass ;  the  Lord's  death,  according  to  St.  Paul 
his  doctrine,  neither  preached  nor  yet  spoken 
of."  An  Irish  funeral,  which  he  witnessed  in 
the  same  city,  shocked  him  if  possible  still  more, 
and  he  endeavoured  to  get  it  stopped,  but  of 
course  without  success.^ 

to  Leinster  and  acted  as  suffragan  to  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin. 
{3)  He  was  a  Protestant.  As  Clonfert  is  in  the  county  of 
Galway,  Nangle  may  have  been  called  "  Bishop  of  Galway  " 
to  distinguish  him  from  the  de  facto  Bishop  of  Clonfert,  Roland 
De  Burgh.  Many  writers  have  stated  that  Nangle  died  in  or 
before  1541  ;  but  this  is  merely  an  inference,  and  I  think  an 
unwarrantable  inference,  from  the  fact  that  De  Burgh,  who 
became  Bishop  of  Clonfert  by  papal  provision  in  1536,  was 
confirmed  by  Henry  in  that  year. 

^  "There    wailed    they    over    the    dead    with    prodigious 
bowlings  and  patterings,  as   though  their  souls  had  not  been 

337  z 


THE    REFORMATION 

From  Waterford  the  Bishop-elect  proceeded 
to  Dublin,  passing  through  his  own  diocese  on 
his  journey,  and  contriving  even  at  this  early- 
stage  to  get  into  a  violent  quarrel  with  his 
clergy.  In  Dublin  he  was  joined  by  his  old 
friend  Goodacre.  The  new  bishops  were  con- 
secrated "  on  the  day  of  the  purification  of  Our 
Lady,"  in  Christ  Church,  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Dublin,  assisted  by  the  Bishops  of  Kildare  and 
Down  ;  and  here  Bale  gave  fresh  proofs  of  his 
intractable  temper  and  his  contempt  tor  public 
opinion.  The  Dean,  a  Protestant,  but  a  man  of 
tact,  sense,  and  moderation,  proposed  that  the 
ceremony  should  be  performed  according  to  the 
rites  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  arguing 
that  the  new  liturgy  had  not  yet  received  the 
sanction  of  the  Irish  parliament,  and  that  its 
introduction  would  probably  provoke  a  riot. 
In  this  opinion  Lord  Chancellor  Cusack  con- 
curred ;  so  did  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin ;  so 
also  did  the  two  assisting  bishops.  Even  Good- 
acre,  while  avowing  his  own  preference  for  the 
reformed  ritual,  was  unwilling  to  oppose  the 
wishes  of  the  majority.  But  Bale  was  inflexible. 
He  cared  nothing  for  the  authority  of  the  Irish 

quieted  in  Christ  and  redeemed  by  his  passion,  but  that  they 
must  come  after  and  help  at  a  pinch  with  requiem  aeternam 
to  deliver  them  out  of  hell  by  their  sorrowful  sorceries." — 
VocacyoTiy  p.  446.  Irish  funerals  were  a  source  of  considerable 
perplexity  to  English  observers.  Compare  Spenser,  Stanihurst 
and  Moryson,  passim.  The  subject  will  be  more  fully  con- 
sidered in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

338 


THE    REFORMATION 

parliament,  and  nothing  for  the  feelings  of  the 
Irish  populace.  He  argued  that,  since  England 
and  Ireland  had  one  King,  whatever  was  legal 
in  the  former  country  must  be  legal  in  the 
latter,  and  openly  announced  that,  "  came  he 
once  to  the  church  of  Ossory,"  he  meant  to 
enforce  the  use  of  the  new  liturgy,  with  law 
or  without  it.  His  obstinacy  carried  the  day. 
Gusack  professed  himself  convinced  by  these 
arguments ;  the  Dean  withdrew  in  disgust,  and 
Brown  eventually  consented  to  perform  the 
"  observation "  according  to  the  Protestant 
ritual,  "  very  unsavourly,  as  one  not  much 
exercised  in  that  mode." 

On  his  return  to  Kilkenny  the  Bishop  acted 
in  a  similar  spirit.  On  one  occasion  he  inter- 
rupted the  celebration  of  the  communion,  and 
would  not  allow  the  service  to  proceed  until  the 
wafers  had  been  removed  and  a  loaf  of  plain 
white  bread  substituted.  On  another  occasion 
he  refused  to  wear  the  episcopal  vestments, 
telling  the  clergy  that  he  was  "  not  Moses' 
minister  but  Christ's,"  and  entreating  them 
"  not  to  compel  me  to  his  denial,  which  con- 
sisteth,  as  St.  Paul  saith,  in  the  repeating  of 
Moses'  sacraments  and  ceremonial  shadows." 
An  assiduous  preacher,  he  held  forth  incessantly 
about  the  errors  of  Popery  and  the  duty  of 
rendering  to  Cassar  the  things  that  were  not 
Csesar's.  As  might  have  been  expected,  he  got 
little  sympathy  :   "  helpers  found  I  none  among 

339 


THE    REFORMATION 

my  prebendaries  and  clergy,  but  adversaries  a 
great  number."  His  eloquence,  however,  was 
not  altogether  barren  of  results.  Once  at  least, 
when  his  language  had  been  more  than  usually 
provocative,  "  there  followed  angers,  slanders, 
conspiracies,  and  in  the  end  the  slaughter  of 
men."  In  ihis  attempts  to  compel  the  clergy 
to  use  the  reformed  prayer-book  the  Bishop 
was  equally  unfortunate  ;  the  latter  simply  dis- 
regarded his  injunctions,  "  alleging  for  their 
vain  and  idle  excuse  the  lewd  example  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Dublin,  who  was  always  slack  in 
all  things  appertaining  to  God's  glory  ;  alleging 
also  the  want  of  books,  and  also  that  their  own 
lawyers  had  not  consented  thereunto."  Nor  was 
he  more  successful  in  persuading  them  to  marry, 
although  in  this  matter  he  was  able  to  cite  not 
only  his  own  examples  but  that  of  his  metro- 
politan. With  the  laity,  and  especially  with 
Lords  Upper  Ossory  and  Mountgarrett — the 
only  native  gentlemen  with  whom  he  appears 
to  have  come  much  in  contact — and  their 
followers,  his  relations  were  equally  unfriendly, 
and  his  life,  if  we  may  believe  his  own  narrative, 
was  in  constant  danger  from  popular  violence. 
He  was  not,  however,  without  his  consolations, 
for,  in  the  hostility  which  he  excited  among  his 
hearers,  he  was  able  to  find  fresh  proofs  of  the 
resemblance  between  himself  and  his  favourite 
apostle. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  thought  strange  that  these 

340 


THE    REFORMATION 

proceedings  should  not  have  produced  an  imme- 
diate rebellion.  It  must,  however,  be  remembered 
that  Protestant  bishops  v\rere  appointed  only  in 
places  wrhere  the  government  could  protect  them, 
and  addressed  themselves  only  to  the  English- 
speaking  portion  of  the  population.^  No  attempt 
was  made  to  propagate  the  reformed  doctrines  in 
the  native  districts,  and  the  mere  Irish  either 
remained  ignorant  of  the  alterations  in  the  state 
religion,  or  regarded  them  with  indifference  as 
matters  with  which  they  had  no  concern.  The 
Anglo-Irish,  on  the  other  hand,  while  bitterly 
resenting  the  arbitrary  action  of  the  executive, 
were  not  prepared  to  adopt  the  only  course 
which  could  render  their  resentment  effective. 
Without  the  support  of  the  Celts  resistance  to 
the  government  was  impossible ;  and  the  support 
of  the  Celts  could  be  obtained  only  upon  terms 
to  which  not  even  the  most  disaffected  of  the 
Anglo-Irish  were  yet  willing  to  agree. 

^ "  The  Reformation  made  but  a  small  progress  in  that 
kingdom.  It  was  received  among  the  English,  but  I  do  not 
find  any  endeavours  were  used  to  bring  it  in  among  the 
Irish." — Burnet's  History  of  the  Reformation^  II,  344.  The 
only  sees  to  which  Protestant  bishops  were  appointed  during 
this  reign  were  Armagh,  Dublin,  Meath,  and  Kildare,  in  the 
Pale ;  Leighlin,  which  had  been  recently  added  to  the  Pale, 
Ossory  in  the  territory  of  the  anglicizing  House  of  Butler, 
and  Limerick,  where  there  was  an  English  garrison.  Even  in 
these  dioceses  only  a  very  small  portion  of  the  clergy  seem  to 
have  conformed.  In  1551  the  Venetian  ambassador  expressly 
stated  that  the  new  liturgy  was  not  used  in  Ireland. — Venetian 
Calendar^  V,  347. 


THE    REFORMATION 

It  is  a  curious  but  incontestible  fact  that,  at 
the  very  time  when  the  government  was  out- 
raging the  feelings  of  the  nation  by  establishing 
a  religion  which  had  not  a  single  sincere  adherent 
in  the  island,  the  condition  of  Ireland  was 
described  by  an  intelligent  and  well-informed 
witness  as  one  of  unusual  tranquillity.  Sir 
Thomas  Cusack,  who  had  obtained  the  great 
seal  after  the  disgrace  of  Alen,  and  who  was 
subsequently  appointed  Lord  Justice  upon  the 
recall  of  Sir  James  Crofts,  was  the  first  person 
connected  with  the  Irish  government  to  attempt 
a  complete  survey  of  the  island  ;  and  his  impres- 
sions are  described  in  an  elaborate  memorial 
which  he  addressed  to  the  Duke  of  Northumber- 
land in  May,  1552.^ 

Beginning  with  Munster,  he  found  the 
province  in  good  quiet  under  the  rule  of 
Desmond  and  other  native  gentlemen.  The 
judges  had  gone  on  circuit  through  the  counties 
of    Limerick,    Cork    and    Kerry,    "  being    the 

^  The  book  sent  from  Sir  Thomas  Cusack,  Lord  Chan- 
cellor of  Ireland,  to  the  Duke  of  Northumberland's  Grace 
for  the  present  state  of  Ireland,  May  8,  1552.  The  original 
of  this  important  treatise  is  unhappily  lost,  but  there  are  no  less 
than  three  extant  copies.  One  of  these  is  in  the  Lambeth 
Library  (printed  in  the  Calendar  of  Carew  MSS.^  I,  235-247), 
and  is  dated  1553.  Another  copy  in  the  British  Museum 
{Harleian  MSS^  35/3),  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  made 
by  or  for  Sir  James  Ware,  is  dated  1552.  There  is  also  a 
copy  in  the  Record  Office,  the  date  on  which  is  illegible. 
The  internal  evidence  is  conclusive  in  favour  of  the  earlier 
date. 


THE    REFORMATION 

farthest  shires  west  of  Munster,"  and  the 
sheriffs  were  obeyed.  "  The  lords  and  captains 
of  those  countries,  as  the  Earl  of  Desmond, 
the  Viscount  Barry,  the  Lord  Roche,  the  Lord 
FitzMaurice  and  divers  others,  which  within 
few  years  would  not  hear  speak  to  obey  the 
law,  beeth  now  in  commission  with  the  justices 
of  the  peace  to  hear  and  determine  causes." 
MacCarthy  Mor,  the  most  powerful  Irishman 
in  Munster,  whose  ancestors  had  been  at  war 
with  the  Earls  of  Desmond  from  time  imme- 
morial, was  "  now  very  conformable  to  good 
order."  Leinster  was  "  in  meetly  good  stay  at 
this  instant";  the  Kavanaghs,  who  in  the  eyes 
of  the  natives  represented  the  ancient  majesty 
of  the  province,  had  submitted  and  agreed  to 
hold  their  lands  of  the  crown.  A  garrison  had 
been  posted  at  Leighlin,  another  at  Ferns, 
another  at  Enniscorthy,  and  another  at 
Tymolinge,  "  a  place  wherein  the  Kavanaghs 
and  other  malefactors  before  time  disturbed 
such  as  brought  stuff  by  water  from  Ross  or 
Waterford  to  Leighlin  or  Carlo  w."  The 
O'Byrnes  and  other  Irish  tribes  between  Dublin 
and  Carlow  were  "  of  honest  conformity  "; 
they  did  not,  it  is  true,  pay  rent  to  the 
crown,  but  they  maintained  one  hundred 
and  twenty  gallowglasses  at  a  wage  of  four- 
pence  a  day,  and  were  able  to  "  make  " 
eighty  horsemen  and  as  many  foot,  "  being 
men  always   ready   to   stand   to   good   order  at 

343 


THE   REFOrvMATION 

the    appointment    of    my    Lord     Deputy    and 
Council." 

Turning  to  the  west,  Thomond,  "  wherein 
the  Breanes  do  inhabit,"  had  been  "in  good 
order  and  quiet  since  the  time  that  O'Brien 
was  created  Earl"  until  his  death  in  1551. 
After  that  event  the  succession  had  been  dis- 
puted between  Donough,  the  second  Earl,  and 
his  half-brother  Sir  Donel  ;  but  the  Lord 
Deputy  had  lately  intervened  on  behalf  of  the 
former,  "  and  now  there  be  few  countries  in 
Ireland  in  better  quiet  than  they."  Similar 
disturbances  had  broken  out  in  Clanricarde  after 
the  death  of  the  first  Earl,  "  during  whose  time 
the  country  was  in  good  stay  and  quiet";  the 
heir  was  a  minor,  and  of  doubtful  legitimacy, 
and  another  member  of  the  sept  had  been  elected 
to  the  chiefship  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
country.  But  here  also  the  intervention  of  the 
crown  had  been  successful  ;  and,  when  Cusack 
wrote,  the  country  was  "  so  brought  to  quiet 
that  now  the  people  leaveth  their  ploughs, 
irons,  and  cattle  in  the  fields  without  fear  of 
stealing."  MacWilliam  of  Mayo,  the  second 
potentate  of  the  province,  was  "  of  honest 
conformity,  ready  to  join  with  the  Earl  of 
Clanricarde  in  executing  the  King's  Majesty's 
commands  in  every  place  in  Connaught  ;  so 
as  they  two,  with  a  captain,  will  make  all 
Connaught  obedient,  which  is  the  fifth  part  of 
Ireland."    Adjoining  Clanricarde  was  "  O'Kelly 

344 


THE    REFORMATION 

nis  country,  a  captain  of  good  power  of  horse- 
man, gallowglasses  and  kerne,  and  no  men  in 
Ireland  of  wilder  nature  than  they  be  ;  and 
many  times  in  time  of  war  they  have  done 
much  harm  to  the  Pale."  O'Kelly  had  lately 
submitted  to  the  Lord  Deputy  at  Athlone,  and 
agreed  to  maintain  a  hundred  of  the  King's 
gallowglasses,  "  which  is  a  great  charge,  paying 
to  every  gallowglass  fourpence  sterling  by  the 
day."  Other  Connaught  chiefs  were  O'Conor 
Sligo,  O'Conor  Roe,  O'Conor  Don  and 
MacDermot,  "men  of  no  great  power."  All 
these  were  more  or  less  disaffected  ;  and  Cusack 
was  forced  to  content  himself  with  the  reflection 
that,  by  their  internal  dissensions,  they  had 
ceased  to  be  formidable.  Sligo,  said  to  be  the 
best  haven  in  Ireland,  was  held  by  the  first- 
named  "  by  usurpation";  but  Clanricarde  had 
lately  captured  Roscommon,  for  which  O'Conor 
Roe  and  O'Conor  Don  were  contending,  and 
delivered  it  to  the  Lord  Deputy.  About  the 
same  time  O'Conor  Roe,  by  invoking  the 
Deputy's  aid  against  MacDermot,  who  had 
robbed  him  of  four  thousand  cattle  and  five 
hundred  stud  mares,  helped  to  rivet  the  English 
yoke  more  firmly  on  his  own  neck. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Shannon  the  western 
parts  of  Limerick,  Tipperary,  and  what  is  now 
called  the  King's  County,  were  occupied  by  a 
group  of  Irish  tribes,  "  which,  within  a  few 
years,  were  all  wild  and  not  conformable  to  any 

345 


THE    REFORMATION 

good  order,  and  yet  they  be  now  ordered  by  the 
sheriffs  of  the  shires,  so  as  men  may  pass  quietly 
throughout  their  countries  at  pleasure,  without 
danger  of  robbing  or  other  displeasure,  and  each 
of  them  lieth  in  his  own  country  quietly  with- 
out hindrance  of  other."  Beyond  these  lay  the 
lands  of  the  Westmeath  Irish,  "very  strong 
countries  for  woods,  moors  and  bogs,  by  means 
whereof  much  cattle  were  stolen  out  of  the 
Pale."  The  chiefs  had  consented  to  make  roads 
through  their  territories,  and  the  sheriff  of 
Westmeath,  with  a  retinue  of  only  ten  horse- 
men, had  distrained  for  debt,  "which,  within 
seven  years,  eight  hundred  men,  nor  yet  one 
thousand,  were  not  able  to  bring  to  pass  in  any 
of  those  places." 

Ulster  was  the  least  satisfactory  of  the  four 
provinces,  and  even  in  Ulster  there  were 
some  signs  of  improvement.  Lecale,  which 
was  beginning  to  recover  from  the  effects  of 
Brereton's  activity,  was  "for  English  freeholders 
and  good  inhabitance  so  civil  as  few  places  in  the 
English  Pale."  A  sheriff  had  been  appointed 
in  Ards  and  another  in  Clandeboye,^  districts 
which  had  been  pretty  thoroughly  feudalized  at 
an  earlier  period,  and  several  of  the  lesser  chiefs 
were  loyal.  O'Hanlon  was  "an  honest  man, 
ready  to  obey  all  commands";  McGennis  "a 
civil  gentleman,  and  keepeth   as  good  order  in 

^  Cusack  to  Northumberland,  September  27,  1551. 


THE    REFORMATION 

his  house  as  any  man  of  his  condition  in  Ireland, 
and  doth  the  same  English-like."  But  the 
O'Neils  in  the  centre  and  the  O'Donels  in  the 
extreme  west  of  the  province  were  at  war 
among  themselves,  while  the  Scottish  settle- 
ments on  the  east  coast  were  spreading  with 
alarming  rapidity.  Tyrone,  which,  only  three 
years  earlier,  had  been  the  most  prosperous  part 
of  Ireland,  was  reduced  to  a  wilderness  by  the 
hostilities  between  the  Earl  and  his  reputed  son, 
the  Baron  of  Dungannon,  who  was  supported 
by  the  whole  power  of  the  government. 
Tyrconnel,  where  Manus  O'Donel  was  opposed 
by  his  son  Calvagh,  was  in  little  better  case. 
Cusack,  it  is  to  be  feared,  did  not  contemplate 
these  dissensions  with  unmixed  regret.  It  has 
always  been  a  maxim  of  English  policy  to 
weaken  the  Irish  by  dividing  them,  and  the 
Lord  Chancellor  congratulated  himself  that 
Brereton  and  Dungannon,  aided  by  Calvagh 
O'Donel,  Turlough  Lynagh,  and  others  of  the 
O'Neils,  would  speedily  reduce  the  northern 
province  to  obedience. 

On  the  whole  Cusack  pronounced  Ireland  to 
be  loyal,  prosperous  and  improving,  and  this 
improvement  he  did  not  hesitate  to  ascribe  to 
the  liberal  policy  of  the  last  two  deputies. 
"The  policy  that  was  devised  for  the  sending  of 
the  Earls  of  Desmond,  Thomond,  Clanricarde, 
and  Tyrone,  and  the  Baron  of  Upper  Ossory, 
O'Carroll,  McGennis,  and  others  into  England, 

347 


THE    REFORMATION 

was  a  great  help  towards  bringing  those  countries 
to  good  order  ;  for  none  of  those  who  went 
into  England  committed  harm  upon  the  King's 
Majesty's  subjects.  The  winning  of  the  Earl 
of  Desmond  was  the  winning  of  the  rest  of 
Munster  at  small  charges.  The  making  O'Brien 
an  earl  made  all  that  country  obedient.  The 
making  of  MacWilliam  Earl  of  Clanricarde 
made  all  that  country  during  his  time  quiet 
and  obedient,  as  it  is  now.  The  making  of 
MacGillapatrick  Baron  of  Upper  Ossory  hath 
made  his  country  obedient;  and  the  having  of 
their  lands  by  Dublin  is  such  a  gage  upon  them, 
as  they  will  not  forfeit  the  same  through  wilful 
folly.  And  the  gentleness  that  my  Lord  Deputy 
doth  devise  among  the  people  doth  profit  and 
make  sure  the  former  civility,  so  as  presidents 
in  Munster,  Connaught  and  Ulster  will,  by 
God's  grace,  make  all  Ireland  without  great 
force  to  be  obedient." 

Cusack  was  an  incurable  optimist,  and  there 
was,  undoubtedly,  another  side  to  the  picture. 
If  assizes  had  been  held  and  sheriffs  appointed 
in  Cork,  Limerick  and  Kerry — and  on  this 
point  we  can  hardly  question  the  Chancellor's 
statement — the  fact  is  compatible  with  the 
prevalence  of  considerable  disorder  in  the  more 
distant  parts  of  the  same  counties.^  Desmond's 
loyalty,  such   as  it  was,  was  due  chiefly  to  the 

^  For  a  much  less  favourable  account  of  Munster  about  this, 
time  see  Wood  to  Cecil,  April  24,  1551. 

348 


THE    REFORMATION 

absence  of  his  hereditary  enemy;  when  Ormond 
returned  to  Ireland  the  feud  between  the 
houses  broke  out  anew  with  unabated  violence. 
In  Clanricarde  and  Thomond,  which  Cusack 
believed  that  he  had  pacified,  the  strife  between 
the  anglicizing  Earls  and  their  tanists  continued 
with  little  intermission  for  another  decade. 
The  lesser  Connaught  septs  were  admittedly 
discontented,  and  were  only  coerced  into  an 
unwilling  submission  by  the  Burkes,  whose  own 
fidelity  was  more  than  doubtful.  In  Ulster  the 
wavering  and  interested  loyalty  of  a  few  petty 
chiefs  was  a  poor  set  off  against  the  continued 
rebellions  of  the  O'Neils,  the  O'Donels,  and  the 
"  Redshanks." 

Still,  making  every  allowance  for  the 
Chancellor's  optimism,  the  fact  is  incontestable 
that  Ireland,  or  that  part  of  it  which  was  under 
native  rule,  was,  for  the  time  at  least,  unusually 
tranquil  ;  and  this  tranquillity  is  the  more 
remarkable  when  contrasted  with  the  misery 
and  disorder  which  prevailed  in  the  "  civil  " 
districts.  "  The  king's  subjects,"  as  distinguished 
both  from  "  the  old  natives "  and  from  the 
hibernicized  or  "  degenerate  "  English,  were 
composed  of  two  classes — the  country  gentlemen 
and  farmers  of  the  four  shires,  and  the  burgesses 
of  the  walled  towns.  Apart  from  "  the  matter 
of  religion,"  which  affected  all  parties,  but 
which,  perhaps,  was  not  as  yet  very  acutely 
felt,  each  of  these  had  their  several  grievances. 

349 


THE    REFORMATION 

The  country  districts  were  laid  waste  by  the 
exactions  of  the  troops.  The  towns  were  brought 
to  the  verge  of  ruin  by  the  depreciation  of  the 
currency. 

"  Brass  money  "  was  inseparably  associated  in 
the  minds  of  the  eighteenth  century  Protestants 
with  Popery  and  wooden  shoes,  but  financial 
dishonesty  on  a  large  scale  dates,  in  Ireland  at 
least,  from  the  blessed  era  of  the  Reformation. 
As  early  as  1460,  indeed,  the  Irish  currency 
had  been  reduced  to  three-fourths  of  its  nominal 
value  ;  but  the  difference  was  universally  under- 
stood and  allowed  for  ;  and  the  depreciation, 
after  the  first  few  years,  ceased  to  work  serious 
mischief.  Henry  VIII,  in  the  last  year  of  his 
reign,  effected  a  further  reduction.  "  New 
money,"  say  the  Irish  annalists,  "  was  intro- 
duced into  Ireland,  that  is  copper  ;  and  the  men 
of  Ireland  were  obliged  to  accept  it  for  silver."  ^ 
In  theory  the  coins  contained  two  parts  of  silver 
to  one  of  copper  or  brass  ;  in  practice  the  pro- 
portions were  generally  reversed.  The  inevitable 
consequences  followed.  Prices  rose  ;  trade  was 
utterly  disorganized.  The  King,  with  all  his 
faults,  was  a  statesman  ;  had  he  lived  he  would 
probably  have  retraced  his  steps.  The  adven- 
turers who  controlled  the  government  after  his 
death  deliberately  aggravated  the  evil.  A  mint 
was   erected  in   Dublin  and  placed    under    the 

^  Four  Masters^  1546.     Ware's  Annals^  1546. 


THE   REFORMATION 

control  of  Thomas  Agard,  a  pious  jobber,  half 
rogue,  half  fanatic,  the  prototype  of  the  class 
which  has  been  the  bane  of  Ireland  from  that 
day  to  this.  Bellingham  protested  fiercely 
against  this  appointment,  which  had  been 
made  without  consulting  him  ;  but  it  was  the 
slight  to  himself  that  he  resented,  not  the  injury 
to  the  country  ;  and  he  devoted  his  great 
abilities  to  forcing  the  coin  upon  an  unwilling 
people.^  The  merchants,  already  impoverished 
by  the  attacks  of  those  pirates  to  whom,  as 
patriotic  historians  tell  us,  England  owes  the 
foundation  of  her  naval  greatness,  cried  out 
piteously  against  the  fraud  which  was  filching 
from  them  the  remains  of  their  commerce.  But 
the  government  resolutely  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 
their  complaints.  The  mint  continued  to 
send  forth  supply  after  supply  of  coin,  each 
baser  than  that  which  preceded  it  ;  and  the 
confusion  became  every  day  more  intolerable. 
In  July,  1 55 1,  when  Crofts  became  Lord 
Deputy,  prices  had  multiplied  fourfold.  Trades- 
men had  dismissed  their  apprentices,  farmers 
their  labourers,  gentlemen  their  household 
servants  ;  and  the  unemployed  had  gone  to 
swell  the  ranks  of  the  thieves  with  whom  the 
country  was  already  swarming.^ 

The     distress     was    even     greater     in     the 

^  Bellingham  to  Warwick,  November  22,  1548.     Memo- 
randum by  Bellingham,  November  14. 

^  Crofts  to  the  Privy  Council,  August  30,  1551. 


THE    REFORMATION 

agricultural  districts  than  in  the  towns.  The 
practice  known  as  "  cess  " — the  Anglo-Irish 
custom  of  coyne  and  livery  under  a  new  name 
— had  been  introduced  by  Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger 
during  his  first  tenure  of  office.  It  had  been 
greatly  extended  by  Bellingham,  had  been  con- 
tinued by  successive  deputies,  and  threatened 
to  become  a  permanent  impost.^  Cess,  which 
Sidney  afterwards  defined  as  "  a  prerogative  of 
the  prince  and  an  agreement  and  consent  of  the 
nobility  to  impose  upon  the  country  a  certain 
proportion  of  victual  and  provision  of  all  kinds, 
to  be  delivered  and  issued  at  a  reasonable  rate, 
or,  as  it  is  commonly  termed,  at  the  Queen's 
price,"  ^  was  not  at  first  unpopular.  It  secured 
to  the  farmers  a  steady  demand  for  their 
produce  ;  and,  so  long  as  the  price  paid  by  the 
troops  was  identical  with  that  which  obtained 
in  the  open  market,  they  had  little  cause  for 
complaint.  But  the  price  paid  by  the  troops 
was  fixed  by  proclamation  and  remained 
unaffected  by  the  depreciation  of  the  currency. 
As  the  value  of  money  decreased  the  cess 
became  more  and  more  burdensome.  The 
measure  of  corn,  which  had  formerly  sold  for 
two  shillings,  had  risen  in  March,  1551,  to 
six    and    eightpence  ;  a   year  later  it    stood    at 

^  "  He  [St.  Leger]  began  the  cesses  in  his  time,  which  gat 
him  some  displeasure.  .  .  This  man  [Bellingham]  had  cesses 
worse  than  St.  Leger." — Book  of  Howth^  p.  195. 

^  Sidney  to  the  Privy  Council,  January  27,  1577. 

2S^ 


THE    REFORMATION 

thirty  shillings.  Cattle  rose  from  twelve 
shillings  a  head  to  four  pounds,  and  all  other 
provisions  rateably.  The  soldiers  continued  to 
seize  the  food  of  the  people,  and  to  pay  for  it, 
when  they  paid  at  all,  which  was  not  often, 
at  the  old  rate.  They  were  unable  to  live 
upon  their  "  entertainments,"  and  "  forced  the 
country,  the  continuance  whereof  will  grow  to 
a  weariness."  The  garrisons  of  Leix  and  Offaly 
alone  contained  between  six  and  seven  hundred 
men,  who,  having  turned  the  districts  in  which 
they  were  stationed  into  a  desert,  were  living 
on  the  plunder  of  the  four  shires.  Other 
garrisons  were  equally  oppressive.  The  calamity 
affected  all  classes.  The  Irish  alone  enjoyed  a 
comparative  immunity.  "  They  cared  only  for 
their  bellies,  and  that  not  delicately."  "  They 
had  little  need  of  money,"  commerce  in  the 
native  districts  being  chiefly  carried  on  by 
barter.  "  We  that  are  stipendaries  must  live 
upon  our  stipends,  and  buy  with  our  money 
which  no  man  esteemeth."  Everybody  was, 
or  believed  himself  to  be,  robbed  ;  and  every- 
body indemnified  himself  to  the  best  of  his 
ability  by  robbing  someone  else.  The  govern- 
ment, the  officers,  the  soldiers  and  the  people 
eked  out  a  precarious  existence  by  picking  each 
other's  pockets.^ 

^  The  rise  of  prices  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  State 
Papers^  but  it  is  almost  impossible  to  discover  its  precise  extent 
— probably  because  the  value  of  money  fluctuated  from  day  to 

2SZ  2A 


THE    REFORMATION 

On  November  iith  the  Lord  Deputy  wrote 
to  Northumberland,  begging  him  to  restore  the 
currency  to  its  former  value.  He  could  see  no 
reason  why  Ireland  should  have  worse  money 
than  England.  The  distress  was  acute,  and,  if 
something  was  not  done  to  remedy  it,  the  city 
of  Dublin  and  the  whole  English  army  would 
be  destroyed  by  famine.^  The  Council  answered 
piously  that  "the  beginning  of  all  things  wherein 
we  are  to  prosper  must  have  their  foundation 
from  God  " ;  when  the  people  had  been  brought 
to  a  conformity  in  religion  it  would  be  time 
enough  to  attend  to  their  complaints.  The 
Deputy,  meanwhile,  was  to  see  the  laws  strictly 
executed,  and  to  devise  some  scheme  for  the 
improvement  of  the  revenue.  If  other  means 
failed  he  might  fall  back  upon  the  plunder  of 
the  churches.  There  were  jewels  to  be  sold  ; 
there  was  communion  plate  to  be  converted  into 

day,  and  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  On  August  30, 
1 55 1,  Crofts  wrote  to  the  Privy  Council  :  "Everything 
that  was  worth  a  penny  is  now  worth  four."  Writing  to 
Winchester  on  March  22,  1552,  he  stated  that  wheat  had 
risen  since  his  arrival  from  six  and  eightpence  to  thirty 
shillings — it  had  formerly  sold  for  two  shillings — and  that 
six  herrings  sold  for  a  groat.  Cusack  says  that  a  peck 
of  wheat  sold  in  the  market  for  twenty  shillings,  and 
a  beef  for  four  pounds,  but  that  the  soldiers  paid  only  five 
shillings  for  the  peck  and  twelve  shillings  for  the  beef,  the  old 
prices. — Crofts  to  the  Privy  Council,  August  30,  1551,  and 
April  16,  1552.  To  Cecil,  March  14,  1552.  To  Winchester, 
March  22,  1552.  Cusack  to  Northumberland,  May  8,  1552. 
^Crofts  to  Northumberland,  November  11,  1551. 

354 


THE   REFORMATION 

money.  The  reverence  shown  to  the  plate  was 
idolatrous,  and  the  money  was  badly  needed.  It 
was  an  ingenious  expedient  for  reconciling  God 
and  Mammon.  As  for  restoring  the  currency, 
it  was  quite  out  of  the  question.  If  the  people 
continued  to  remonstrate  they  might  be  treated 
to  a  lecture  on  the  principles  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. If  it  was  not  possible  to  pay  the  troops 
it  was  always  possible  to  dismiss  them.  What 
might  be  the  consequence  of  disbanding  a  number 
of  unpaid  licentious  soldiers  in  the  midst  of  a 
population  already  seething  with  discontent  their 
lordships  did  not  stop  to  consider.^ 

Crofts  was  not  wholly  convinced  by  these 
arguments.  He  consented,  indeed,  to  invite  the 
leading  merchants  to  confer  with  him  upon  the 
financial  situation ;  but  he  did  not  pretend  to 
expect  any  very  valuable  results  from  their 
deliberations.  The  conference  was  held  in 
December,  and  was  attended  by  delegates  from 
Dublin,  Cork,  Waterford,  Limerick,  and 
Drogheda.  The  Lord  Deputy  explained  the 
views  of  the  Council.  Money,  he  said,  was 
"for  none  other  use,  but  for  exchange"  ;  it  was 
a  mere  token  which  derived  its  efficacy  from 
the  King's  image,  and  ought  therefore  to  bear 
whatever  value  the  King  chose  to  assign  to  it. 
The  merchants  understood  the  abstract  econo- 
mical question  as   little  as  the   Lord   Deputy ; 

^  Privy  Council  to  Crofts,  November  22  and  26,  1551. 

355 


THE    REFORMATION 

but  they  could  feel  the  practical  effects  of  the 
depreciation,  and  they  were  not  to  be  cajoled 
with  words.  They  answered  that  they  could 
not  be  expected  to  "  esteem  anything  but  as 
reason  would  we  should  esteem  it."  Gold  and 
silver  were  no  less  obviously  intended  by  nature 
for  money  than  steel  for  swords  or  lead  for 
bullets.  "  If  we  should  use  lead  to  make 
armour  or  edge  tools  our  labour  were  in  vain. 
If  we  should  use  iron  to  make  money  it  would 
rust,  canker,  break,  and  be  filthy."  If  the 
government  was  resolved  not  to  call  in  the  base 
coin,  it  would  be  best  to  cry  it  down  to  some- 
thing approaching  its  real  value.  Such  a  step 
would  involve  a  heavy  loss  to  all  who  had  coins 
in  their  possession ;  but  anything  was  preferable 
to  the  prevailing  confusion. 

Crofts  promptly  communicated  the  opinion 
of  the  meeting  to  Northumberland,  at  the  same 
time  acknowledging  his  own  sympathy  with  the 
views  of  the  petitioners.  Receiving  no  reply 
to  this  letter,  the  Lord  Deputy  wrote  again  a 
month  later  to  the  Privy  Council,  enclosing  a 
"  supplication  of  the  nobility,  gentlemen,  and 
merchants."  The  supplication,  which  was 
signed  by  several  peers,  by  three  judges,  and 
by  the  chief  magistrates  of  all  the  most  im- 
portant towns,  described  the  depreciation  of  the 
currency  as  the  "first  and  principal  cause"  of 
the  public  ruin,  "  without  remedy  whereof  it 
is   thought   almost   impossible    to    set   a   stay." 


THE    REFORMATION 

Crofts,  in  the  accompanying  dispatch,  was  even 
more  outspoken.  Baseness  of  coin,  he  wrote, 
"  causeth  universal  dearth,  increaseth  idleness, 
decayeth  nobility — one  of  the  principal  keys  of 
the  commonwealth — and  bringeth  magistrates 
into  hatred  and  contempt  of  the  people."^  To 
this  letter  also  no  answer  was  returned.  But 
Crofts  continued  to  pour  forth  his  complaints 
into  the  unwilling  ears  of  the  Council,  and  at 
last,  in  April,  1552,  Northumberland  consented 
to  cry  down  the  money  to  half  its  previous 
value. 

Not,  however,  immediately.  The  salary  of 
everyone  in  Ireland,  from  the  Lord  Deputy 
down,  was  in  arrear  ;  and  the  Duke,  with  an 
increase  in  the  value  of  money  imminent,  began 
for  the  first  time  in  his  life  to  exhibit  a  laudable 
anxiety  to  pay  his  debts.  Crofts  was  informed 
that  all  arrears  would  be  paid  off  by  midsummer 
at  the  old  rate,  and  that  after  that  date  the  coin 
would  be  cried  down.  Strict  secrecy  was  en- 
joined, but  the  intention  of  the  government 
leaked  out  and  produced  a  panic.  Trade,  which 
was  already  languishing,  now  ceased  altogether, 
no  one  being  willing  to  accept  money  the  value 
of  which   was   to   be  immediately  halved.     In 

^  Crofts  to  Northumberland,  December  22,  1551,  enclosing 
Petition  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Dublin,  Waterford,  Limerick, 
Cork,  and  Drogheda.  Crofts  to  the  Privy  Council,  January 
27,  1552,  enclosing  Supplication  of  the  Nobility,  Gentlemen, 
and  Merchants. 

357 


THE    REFORMATION 

June  the  crying  down  was  effected,  and  a  partial 
revival  of  trade  followed.  But  the  relapse  into 
virtue  was  less  serious  than  some  writers  have 
imagined,  the  new  coins,  if  we  may  believe  an 
entry  in  Edward's  journal,  containing  only 
"three  denar  fine,"  or  one  part  of  silver  to  three 
of  alloy/ 

^  King  to  Lord  Deputy  and  Council,  June  7.  Commission 
to  Martin  Perry  and  others,  June  10.  Simon's  Essay  on 
Irish  Coins,  p.  35.  Ruding's  Annals  of  the  Coinage,  I,  324. 
"Whereas  it  was  agreed  that  there  should  be  a  pay  made  to 
Ireland  of  ;^5,00O  and  then  the  money  cried  down,  it  was 
appointed  that  3,000  weight  which  I  had  in  the  Tower  should 
be  carried  thither  and  coined  at  3  denar  fine,  and  that 
incontinent  the  coin  should  be  cried  down." — Journal  of 
Edward  Vly  June  10,  1552.  There  is  an  ambiguity  in  the 
phrase  *' three  denar  fine."  Ruding,  who  takes  it  to  mean 
3d.  in  the  pound,  says  very  justly  that  this  was  a  currency 
infinitely  baser  than  any  that  Ireland  had  yet  known.  It 
seems  to  me  more  reasonable  as  well  as  more  charitable  to 
interpret  it  as  3d.  in  the  shilling. 


358 


CHAPTER    VII 

THE    PLANTATION    OF    LEIX    AND    OFFALY 

Rather  more  than  two  years  elapsed  between 
the  introduction  of  the  Protestant  liturgy  and 
the  death  of  Edward.  During  those  years  the  1553 
reformed  church  gained  scarcely  any  adherents 
in  Ireland.  Official  personages  changed  and 
re-changed  their  creed  without  reluctance  and 
without  enthusiasm.  The  people,  in  the  few 
places  where  government  was  a  reality,  were 
dragooned  into  a  sullen  and  superficial  con- 
formity ;  but  the  old  ceremonies  lingered  in 
remote  districts,  and  there  was  little  controversial 
preaching.^  Bale  was  the  only  Protestant  bishop 
who  attempted  to  make  converts,  and  Bale's 
eloquence  produced  more  riots  than  conversions. 
But  the  days  of  Bale's  ministry  were  few 
and  evil.  His  consecration  only  took  place  in 
February,  1553,  and  on  July  6th  of  the  same 
year  Edward  died.  It  was  not  until  nearly  three 
weeks  later  that  the  news  reached  Kilkenny.     On 

^  "  The  old  ceremonies  remain  as  yet  in  many  places." — 
Crofts  to  Cecil,  March  15,  1552.  "As  for  preaching  we 
have  none,  which  is  our  most  lack,  without  which  the  ignorant 
can  have  no  knowledge,  which  were  very  needful  to  be 
redressed." — Cusack  to  Northumberland,  May  8,  1552. 

359 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

the  evening  of  the  twenty-fifth  the  priests  were 
observed  to  be  "  pleasantly  disposed,"  but  the 
cause  of  their  good  humour  was  a  secret  known 
as  yet  only  to  themselves.  The  next  day  was  a 
holy  day.  In  the  morning  Mr.  Justice  Howth, 
accompanied  by  Bale's  old  enemy,  Lord  Mount- 
garrett,  proceeded  to  the  cathedral  and  desired 
the  clergy  to  celebrate  the  office  for  the  day. 
The  clergy  answered  that  the  bishop  had  for- 
bidden celebrations  on  week-days ;  "  as  indeed 
I  had,"  says  Bale,  "  for  the  abominable  idolatries 
I  had  observed  therein."  "  I  discharge  you," 
replied  Howth,  "  from  obedience  to  your 
bishop." 

On  the  twenty-seventh  the  report  of  the  King's 
death  was  officially  confirmed,  and  the  Lady 
Jane  was  proclaimed  Queen  amidst  processions, 
banquets  and  bonfires.  The  proclamation  was 
greeted  with  tumultuous  enthusiasm,  the  bishop,  if 
we  may  believe  his  own  narrative,  being  the  only 
person  who  ventured  to  oppose  it.  The  people, 
it  is  evident,  knew  nothing  of  English  politics, 
but  they  were  weary  of  the  late  government, 
and  might  be  pardoned  for  thinking  that  any 
change  must  be  for  the  better.  That  they  were 
not  actuated  by  Protestant  sympathies  their 
subsequent  conduct  abundantly  proves. 

The  first  weeks  of  a  new  reign  were  always  a 
period  of  confusion  in  Ireland,  and  the  danger 
was  increased  on  the  present  occasion  by  the 
uncertainty  of  the   English  succession   and  the 

360 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

absence  of  the  Deputy.  At  the  beginning  of 
August  riots  broke  out  in  various  parts  of  the 
country,  and  notably  at  Kilkenny,  where  the 
discontent  produced  by  Bale's  sermons  was 
heightened  by  a  rumour  that  Ormond  and 
Barnaby  FitzPatrick  had  been  murdered  in 
London.  The  Butlers  and  MacGillapatricks  took 
arms  to  avenge  their  chiefs  and  committed 
numerous  outrages.  Among  other  victims  Mrs. 
Mathew  King,  the  wife  of  an  English  gentle- 
man residing  near  Kilkenny,  was  stopped  on  the 
high  road  and  stripped  "  to  her  very  petticoat ! " 
Such  at  least  is  Bale's  statement,  but  we  hav^  no 
means  either  of  confirming  or  refuting  it. 

This  was  on  August  15th.  But  long  before 
that  date  the  rash  and  wicked  conspiracy  of 
Northumberland  had  ended  as  all  prudent  men 
had  foreseen ;  the  nine  days'  queen  was  already 
a  prisoner  when  she  was  proclaimed  in  Dublin. 
Communication  was  slow  and  uncertain  ;  but  a 
rumour  of  Northumberland's  failure  reached 
Ireland  about  August  loth.  The  officials  sat 
cautiously  on  the  fence  for  some  days,  and  then 
decided  on  a  fresh  apostacy.  On  the  eighteenth. 
Queen  Mary  was  proclaimed  in  Dublin  by  the 
same  persons  who,  less  than  a  month  earlier, 
had  declared  for  her  rival.  On  the  twentieth, 
the  proclamation  was  renewed  in  the  provinces. 
At  Kilkenny  the  accession  of  the  new  sovereign 
was  celebrated  by  a  procession  in  which  the 
bishop,  much  to  his  disgust,  was  compelled  to 

361 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

take  part.  Bale,  according  to  his  custom, 
refused  to  wear  cope  or  mitre ;  but  his  clergy, 
who  thoroughly  enjoyed  teasing  him,  insisted 
on  carrying  the  obnoxious  vestments  in  front  of 
him.  As  a  last  resource  the  bishop  attempted 
to  provide  a  counter-attraction  to  the  Popish 
pageant.  Hostility  to  the  drama  was  as  yet  no 
part  of  the  Puritan  creed,  and  Bale,  who  had 
written  for  the  stage,  and  was  inordinately  vain 
of  his  productions,  caused  two  of  his  own  plays 
to  be  enacted  in  a  rude  theatre  erected  for  the 
purpose.  The  plays,  a  tragedy  and  a  comedy — 
the  first  dealing  with  the  creation,  the  second 
with  the  crucifixion — are  by  no  means  destitute 
of  merit;  but  they  made  as  few  converts  as  their 
author's  sermons. 

There  was  worse  to  come.  On  the  twenty- 
sixth,  the  bishop  left  Kilkenny  for  Holmescourt, 
a  country  house  about  five  miles  distant. 
Returning  to  the  city  on  the  thirty-first  he 
found  that  the  priests  had  availed  themselves  of 
his  absence  to  restore  the  old  ceremonies.  The 
images  were  replaced  in  the  churches ;  the  bells 
were  rung ;  processions  marched  through  the 
streets,  with  priests  at  their  head,  carrying 
crucifixes  and  chanting  the  Latin  litany.  A 
few  days  later  it  was  "noised  abroad"  by  the 
Bishop  of  Galway  and  others  that  the  nation 
was  about  to  be  reconciled  to  the  Pope.  Bale 
afli^ected  to  disbelieve  the  rumour,  but  his  heart 
sank  within  him.      During  the   late   reign   the 

362 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

government  had  experienced  no  small  difficulty 
in  protecting  him  from  the  fury  of  the  populace. 
The  populace  and  the  government  were  now  on 
the  same  side,  and  his  position  was  perilous  in 
the  extreme.  He  had  never  been  remarkable 
for  personal  courage,  and  he  hastily  decided 
to  leave  Kilkenny.  By  the  assistance  of  the 
"sovereign"  or  mayor,  Mr.  Robert  Shee,  "a 
man  prudent,  wise  and  godly,  which  is  a  rare 
thing  in  that  land,"  he  succeeded  in  making 
his  way  to  Dublin ;  but  his  reception  was 
not  encouraging.  The  archbishop,  who  was 
anxious  to  make  his  peace  with  the  new  govern- 
ment, flatly  refused  to  see  him,  saying  openly 
"on  his  ale-bench,  with  his  cup  in  his  hand," 
that  Bale  should  never  preach  in  his  diocese. 
The  leading  laymen  were  equally  hostile.  After 
lingering  for  a  few  days  in  Dublin  he  contrived 
to  escape  to  England,  and  thence  to  Switzerland, 
where  he  remained  unhonoured  and  unmolested 
until  the  accession  of  Elizabeth.^ 

At  Kilkenny  and  elsewhere  the  populace  had 
outrun  the  wishes  of  the  government ;  but  the 
official  re-establishment  of  Catholicism  was 
not  long  delayed.  No  parliament,  it  must  be 
remembered,  had  been  held  in  Ireland  during 
the  reign  of  Edward ;  the  English  liturgy  had 
been  introduced  by  an  order  in  council,  which, 
if  it  was  not  wholly  illegal,   could  be  justified 

^  Bale's  Vocacyon^  pp.  449-455. 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

only  by  a  most  extravagant  interpretation  of  the 
Act  of  Supremacy ;  the  Mass  was  now  restored 
by  the  same  means  and  by  the  same  statesman, 
Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger,  who  displayed,  through- 
out his  career,  a  most  philosophical  indifference 
to  doctrinal  squabbles.  On  October  23rd 
George  Dowdall  was  recalled  from  exile,  and 
re-instated  in  the  see  of  Armagh.  On  March 
I  2th  the  title  of  Primate  of  All  Ireland,  which 
Edward  had  transferred  to  Dublin,  was  restored 
to  him,  "with  all  powers,  dignities  and  emolu- 
ments thereunto  belonging,  in  as  ample  a 
manner  as  his  predecessors  had  enjoyed  the 
same."^  In  April  a  commission,  over  which 
1554  Dowdall  presided,  was  appointed  for  the  depri- 
vation of  the  reforming  bishops.  With  the 
archbishop  were  associated  as  commissioners 
William  Walsh,  a  monk  of  the  great  Cister- 
cian house  of  Bective,  and  Thomas  Leverous, 
the  preserver  and  sometime  tutor  of  Kildare. 
The  Bishop  of  Meath,  who  was  particularly 
obnoxious  to  Dowdall  on  account  of  the  part 
which  he  had  taken  at  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  was 
the  first  victim.  He  was  succeeded  by  Walsh, 
one  of  the  commissioners  who  had  deprived 
him.  Browne,  Lancaster  and  Travers  were 
successively  removed  from  their  sees ;  Bale  and 
Casey  anticipated  a  similar  sentence  by  flight.^ 
Browne,  who  had  incurred  the  contempt  of  all 

^  Patent  Rol/s,  pp.  302,  315. 

2  Ware's  Annals^  1554-     Ware,  I,  92. 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

parties,  sought  to  make  his  peace  with  the 
Church.  Nor  can  he  be  justly  accused  of 
inconsistency,  since  he  had  uniformly  main- 
tained that  it  was  the  duty  of  subjects  to  profess 
the  religion  of  the  reigning  prince.  But  he  had 
gone  too  far  to  be  forgiven,  and,  a  still  more 
fatal  objection,  was  encumbered  with  a  wife 
whom  he  vainly  endeavoured  to  divorce.  By 
an  act  of  parliament,  passed  two  years  later,  his^ 
children  were  stigmatized  as  bastards,  and  the 
sales,  leases  and  alienations  which  he  had  made 
in  their  favour  were  revoked.^ 

In  the  room  of  Lancaster,  Thomas  Leverous 
became  Bishop  of  Kildare  ;  Thomas  O'Fihely,. 
an  Augustinian  friar,  was  appointed  to  Leighlin, 
vacant  by  the  deposition  of  Travers  :  John 
Quin,  the  octogenarian  Bishop  of  Limerick, 
was  restored  to  the  see  from  which  in  the 
preceding  year  he  had  been  ejected  to  make 
room  for  the  reformer  Casey  :  John  Thonery 
succeeded  Bale  at  Ossory  ;  and  Roland  Baron 
was  elevated  to  the  throne  of  Cashel,  which 
had  remained  unfilled  for  four  years,  since  the 
death  of  Edmund  Butler.^ 

^  Historical  Collections  of  the  Church  of  Ireland.  Bale's 
Vocacyon.  Harleian  Miscellany^  V,  6o2  ;  VI,  455.  An 
Act  for  the  revocation  of  sales,  alienations  and  leases,  made  by 
George  Browne,  late  Archbishop  of  Dublin. — Carew  MSS^ 
This  Act  is  not  in  the  Statute  Book. 

2  Ware,  I,  390,  416,  461,  511.  Cotton,  I,  90,  325  ;  II, 
231,  277,  387.  Brady's  Episcopal  Succession,  I,  351,  363, 
386  ;  II,  5,  42.     Patent  Rolls,  306-307,  318-319. 

3^5 


PLANTATION    OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

Of  the  deprived  bishops,  Brown  and  Travers 
disappear  from  history  ;  it  is  probable  that  the 
former  at  least  did  not  long  survive  his  degrada- 
tion. Edw^ard  Staples  lived  to  w^itness  the 
triumph  of  his  party  in  1558/  nor  is  it  easy  to 
conjecture  for  what  reason  he  was  not  re-instated 
in  his  bishopric.  Thomas  Lancaster,  after 
fourteen  years  passed  in  obscurity,  emerged 
from  his  retirement  as  Primate  of  all  Ireland  ;  ^ 
and  William  Casey,  after  a  somewhat  longer 
interval,  became  for  the  second  time  Bishop  of 
Limerick.^  Bale,  who  during  the  reign  of 
Mary  found  an  asylum  at  Geneva,  returned  to 
England  on  the  accession  of  Elizabeth.  He  did 
not,  however,  venture  to  resume  his  episcopal 
duties,  preferring  the  humbler  but  less  perilous 
station  of  a  prebendary  of  Canterbury.'* 

The  metropolitan  see  of  Dublin,  after  lying 

vacant  for  more   than   a  year  after  the  depriva- 

1555     tion  of  Browne,   was   filled   at    length    by    the 

appointment     of     Hugh     Curwen.       Curwen, 

^  Staples  to  Cecil,  December  16,  1558. 

^Ware  and  others  supposed  that  the  Thomas  Lancaster 
who  became  Archbishop  of  Armagh  in  1568  was  a  different 
person  from  the  Bishop  of  Kildare,  but  the  contrary  was 
distinctly  stated  by  the  Queen,  who  can  hardly  have  been 
mistaken.  "  One  of  our  ordinary  chaplains,  Mr.  Thomas 
Lancaster,  who  heretofore  was  Bishop  of  Kildare  in  our  said 
realm,  and  therein  proved  for  that  time  very  laudably." — 
Elizabeth  to  the  Lords  Justices,  March  28,  1568. 

2  Ware,  I,  511.     Cotton,  I,  326. 

*  Cooper's  Athentr  Cantahrigiensis,  I,  226.  Strype's  Life  of 
Parker^  I,  1 21,  126.    Ware,  I,  416. 

366 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

who,  like  every  Archbishop  of  Dublin  since 
the  twelfth  century,  was  an  Englishman,  was  a 
peculiarly  unscrupulous  representative  of  the 
school  of  churchmen  whose  first  principle  it 
was  to  adapt  their  religious  convictions  to  the 
caprices  of  successive  sovereigns.  Like  Thomas 
Cranmer,  whom  he  strongly  resembled  in 
character  and  opinions,  the  new  archbishop 
had  risen  to  favour  by  assisting  Henry  in  the 
affair  of  his  first  divorce.  He  had  been  counsel 
for  Anne  Boleyn,  and  had  behaved  to  Queen 
Katherine  with  a  brutality  which  it  seems 
strange  that  her  daughter  should  have  forgiven. 
In  the  same  spirit  he  asserted  in  its  most 
exaggerated  form  the  dogma  of  the  King's 
spiritual  supremacy.  So  courtly  a  divine  could 
not  long  remain  unrewarded  ;  and  Dr.  Curwcn 
became  Archdeacon  of  Oxford  and  Dean  of 
Hereford,  besides  securing  many  lucrative 
sinecures.  But,  however  zealous  he  might  be 
for  the  supremacy  and  the  divorce,  he  professed, 
while  Henry  lived,  an  equal  attachment  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  "Corporal  Presence";  and  the 
death  of  the  reformer  Frith  was  popularly 
laid  at  his  door.  But  this  doctrine  ceased  to 
be  fashionable  after  the  death  of  Henry  ;  and 
Curwen,  in  accordance  with  the  course  which 
he  had  uniformly  pursued,  at  once  modified  his 
opinions  to  suit  the  wishes  of  the  new  govern- 
ment. Having  successively  enjoyed  the  favour 
of  Somerset  and  Northumberland,  Curwen,  like 

367 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

Cranmer,  once  more  recanted  at  the  accession 
of  Mary  ;  but,  more  fortunate  than  the  English 
Primate,  contrived  to  secure  not  only  impunity 
but  preferment.  He  became  chaplain  to  the 
Queen,  and  was  promoted  in  September, 
1555,  to  be  Archbishop  of  Dublin  and  Lord 
Chancellor  of  Ireland/  With  the  exception  of 
Curwen,  the  bishops  appointed  by  Mary  were 
all  natives  of  Ireland  ;  the  prelates  whom  they 
superseded  were,  without  exception.  Englishmen. 
The  counter  reformation  ended  with  the  de- 
privation of  the  bishops  and  the  restoration  of 
the  Catholic  services  in  the  few  places  where 
they  had  been  discontinued.  Persecution  there 
was  none,  for  there  was  no  one  to  persecute. 
Protestantism  in  Ireland  was  a  sickly  exotic, 
dependent  for  its  very  existence  on  the  favour  of 
the  crown,  and,  when  the  crown  turned  against 
it,  it  died  a  natural  death.  For  the  rest  the 
ecclesiastical  policy  of  the  Queen  differed  little 
from  that  of  her  father.  The  name  of  Supreme 
Head  was  not  at  once  renounced  ;^  the  spoils  of 
the  monasteries  were  not  at  any  time  restored. 
A  Catholic  Mary  Tudor  doubtless  was  ;  a  Papist 
she  most  assuredly  was  not.  By  regal,  not  papal 
authority,  was  George  Dowdall  replaced  in  the 

^  Strype's  Life  of  Farker^  I,  508.  Fatent  Rolls^  p.  339. 
Ware,  I,  352. 

^  Thus  in  the  letter  of  the  Council  announcing']  her  acces- 
sion Mary  is  called  "  Queen  of  England,  France  and  Ireland^ 
Defender  of  the  Faith,  and  on  earth  Supreme  Head  of  the 
Churches  of  England  and  Ireland.** — Patent  Rolh^  p.  304. 

368 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

archbishopric  to  which  Rome  had  never  yet 
acknowledged  his  claim ;  by  regal,  not  papal 
authority,  was  the-primacy  of  all  Ireland  once 
again  transferred  from  Dublin  to  Armagh.  It 
was  not  by  a  papal  bull  but  by  a  commission 
under  the  great  seal  that  Browne  and  Staples, 
Lancaster  and  Travers,  were  expelled  from  their 
sees ;  their  successors  were  appointed  by  letters 
patent.  The  very  proclamation  which  restored 
the  mass  was  issued  by  the  Queen  in  virtue  of 
her  ecclesiastical  supremacy.  On  other  occa- 
sions Mary  acted  in  a  similar  spirit.  One  of  her 
first  acts  was  to  extort  from  Eugene  Magennis, 
chief  of  Iveagh,  a  promise  not  to  admit  any 
provisor  from  the  Roman  court.^  A  priest 
named  MacCarthy  begged  for  licence  to  proceed 
to  Rome  "to  obtain  certain  poor  benefices, 
whether  they  be  spiritual  or  regular,"  explaining 
that  he  did  not  dare  to  do  so  without  express 
permission,  "  considering  the  statute  ot  prae- 
munire ; "  but  the  Queen  did  not  even  condescend 
to  acknowledge  his  petition.^ 

^  Submission  of  Eugene  Magennis,  December  6,  1553. — 
Carew  MSS. 

^  Pleaseth  your  Highness,  your  daily  subject  Connor 
MacCarthy,  born  within  your  Grace's  realm  of  Ireland,  being 
presently  bound  towards  the  Pope's  Holiness,  intending  to 
obtain  certain  poor  benefices,  whether  they  be  spiritual  or 
regular,  within  your  Highness'  foresaid  realm  of  Ireland,  fearing 
lest  any  of  the  foresaid  benefices  be  of  your  Highness'  presen- 
tation or  nomination,  and  also  considering  the  statute  of  prae- 
munire, that  doth  prohibit  any  of  your  said  subjects  to  obtain 

369  2  B 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

The  title  of  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church, 
employed  by  Mary  during  the  first  year  of  her 
reign,  was  indeed  eventually  abandoned,  and  in 
a  parliament  held  three  years  later  the  anti-papal 
legislation  of  Henry  VHI  was  formally  repealed. 
But  the  concession  was  rather  nominal  than  real. 
After  the  act  of  repeal,  no  less  than  before  it,  the 
Queen  continued  to  exercise  her  ecclesiastical 
patronage  without  regard  to  the  claims  of  the 
Vatican.  In  the  last  year  of  her  reign,  when 
the  Earl  of  Tyrone  suggested  that  his  chaplain. 
Sir  Edmund  O'Coyne,  might  be  inducted  into 
the  priory  of  Down  for  which  he  had  procured 
the  Pope's  bulls,  the  Queen  answered  haughtily 
that  she  intended  "  to  maintain  the  prero- 
gative left  to  her  by  her  progenitors  in  that 
behalf."  ' 

There  was  another  title  which  implied  an 
equal   defiance   to   the  papacy,  but  with  which 

any  such  dignities  from  the  See  of  Rome  without  your 
Highness'  consent  and  assent  therein  had  ;  it  may,  therefore, 
consist  with  your  Highness'  pleasure  in  consideration  of  the 
premises  and  also  to  the  furtherance  of  your  said  subject  to 
the  study  of  honest  literature,  to  grant  your  Highness'  letters 
of  licence  for  your  said  subject  his  discharge  in  case  he  can 
obtain  any  such  benefices  from  the  foresaid  See  of  Rome, 
fearing  lest  in  time  coming  any  man  should  vex  or  dis- 
turb your  said  subject,  objecting  the  foresaid  statute  of  prae- 
munire in  his  way,  in  case  he  had  not  your  said  letters  of 
licence  for  his  discharge  in  that  behalf  ready  to  show." — 
Petition  of  Connor  MacCarthy  (1553  ?). 

^  Tyrone  to  the  Queen,  June,  1558.     The  Queen  to  the 
Lord  Deputy,  July  6,  1558. 

17^ 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

Mary  was  less  ready  to  part.  According  to  the 
constitutional  theory  which  had  prevailed  among 
the  Anglo-Irish  since  the  twelfth  century,  the 
"  regal  estate  "  of  Ireland  was  supposed  to  be 
vested  in  the  Holy  See,  "and  the  lordship  of  the 
Kings  of  England  to  be  but  a  governance  under 
the  obedience  of  the  same."  It  was  as  their 
ultimate  sovereign,  rather  than  as  their  spiritual 
head,  that  Paul  III  had  appealed  to  the  Irish  to 
aid  him  in  the  struggle  with  Henry  VIII,  and 
the  statute  which  converted  the  "  lordship  "  of 
Ireland  into  a  kingdom  had  been  expressly 
framed  as  an  answer  to  this  claim.  Either 
deliberately  or  inadvertently,  Mary  had  at  her 
accession  assumed  the  style  of  "  Queen  of 
Ireland,"  a  step  against  which  the  Pope  at  once 
protested,  "  affirming  constantly  that  it  belonged 
only  to  him  to  give  the  name  of  a  King."  It 
was,  however,  impossible  to  induce  the  Queen 
to  surrender  a  dignity  which  two  of  her  prede- 
cessors had  enjoyed,  and  Paul  IV,  not  choosing 
to  quarrel  with  England  about  a  mere  form,  was 
reduced  "  to  dissemble  the  knowledge  of  what 
Henry  had  done  and  himself  to  erect  the  island 
into  a  kingdom,  that  so  the  world  might  believe 
that  the  Queen  had  used  the  title  as  given  by 
the  Pope,  not  as  decreed  by  her  father."  "The 
Popes,"  adds  the  Venetian  historian,  "  have 
often  given  that  which  they  could  not  take 
from  the  possessors ;  and  to  avoid  contentions 
some  have   received   their   own  goods  as  gifts, 

37^ 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

and  some  have  dissembled  the  knowledge  of  the 
gifts  or  of  the  pretence  of  the  giver."' 

The  laity,  while  submitting  without  reluc- 
tance to  the  alteration  of  religion,  kept  a  firm 
grasp  on  the  estates  of  the  Church.  To  interfere 
with  vested  interests  might,  perhaps,  have  been 
dangerous ;  but  the  possessions  of  many  monas- 
teries remained  with  the  crown,  and  these  Mary, 
had  she  so  wished,  might  without  difficulty  have 
restored.  She  granted  them  as  lavishly  as  her 
predecessors  had  done.  Both  Kildare,  who  has 
been  represented  as  a  martyr  for  the  Catholic 
cause,  and  Ormond,  who  had  reverted  to 
Catholicism  on  the  accession  of  Mary,  were 
rewarded  for  their  services  during  Wyatt's 
insurrection  with  the  spoils  of  the  Church." 

Religious  peace  was  restored  to  Ireland ;  but 
religious  peace  did  not  bring  political  tran- 
quillity. So  far  indeed  as  their  temporal  interests 
were  concerned,  the  Irish  suffered  more  from  the 
orthodox  Queen  than  from  her  heretical  prede- 
cessor.^   The  religious  reforms  of  the  last  reign 

^  Sarpi,  History  of  the  Council  of  Trent. — Extract  in  Carew 
MSS.     For  the  bull  of  Paul  IV,  see  Patent  Rolls,  p.  339. 

^  For  the  grant  to  Kildare  see  The  Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  202  ; 
for  that  to  Ormond,  Patent  Rolls,  pp.  384-386;  and  for  other 
grants  Patent  Rolls,  p.  319. 

^  "Albeit  this  Queen  was  a  very  zealous  Papist,  yet  the  Irish 
were  not  quieter  during  her  reign  than  they  were  under  her 
brother ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  their  antipathy  against  English- 
men and  government  induced  them  to  be  as  troublesome  then 
as  at  other  times,  and  prevailed  with  Mr.  Sullivan  to  give  this 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

had  irritated  the  Anglo-Irish  ;  and  the  irritation 
of  the  Anglo-Irish  had  largely  paralyzed  the 
action  of  the  executive.  But  the  Catholic 
restoration  revived  the  v^avering  loyalty  of  the 
Pale ;  and,  the  war  of  creeds  being  in  abeyance, 
the  war  of  races  broke  out  again  w^ith  redoubled 
violence.  The  Crov^n  and  the  Church,  bitterly 
opposed  during  eighteen  bloody  and  eventful 
years,  joined  hands  once  more  for  the  extirpa- 
tion of  the  native  Irish. ^ 

Five  years  had  now  elapsed  since  Sir  Edward 
Bellingham  had  expelled  the  native  clans  from 
Leix  and  Offaly,  and  planted  garrisons  which, 
it  had  been  hoped,  would  have  had  the  effect  of 
permanently  uniting  those  districts  to  the  Pale. 
But,  even  before  the  recall  of  Bellingham,  it  had 
become  evident  that  this  hope  was  not  likely  to 
be  realized.  Of  the  soldiers,  some  died,  and  none 
could  be  found  to  take  their  places.  The  pay  of 
the  rest  fell  into  arrear ;  they  became  mutinous 

severe  character  of  her  reign,  that  although  the  Queen  was 
zealous  to  propagate  the  Catholic  religion,  yet  her  ministers 
did  not  forbear  to  injure  and  abuse  the  Irish.  *Quae  tametsi 
Catholicam  religionem  tueri  et  amplificare  conata  est,  ejus 
tamen  prasfecti  et  consiliarii  injuriam  Hibernis  inferre  non 
destituerunt.' " — Coxe,  Hibernia  Anglicana^  I,  309.  Cf. 
O'Sullivan,  Historic  Catholica  Hibernia  Compendium^  p.  88. 

^  In  August,  1556,  a  commission  was  issued  to  George, 
Archbishop  of  Armagh  ;  Hugh,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and 
other  persons,  as  well  temporal  as  spiritual,  "  to  resist  and 
punish  with  fire  and  sword  those  enemies  and  rebels  who 
should  attempt  any  evil  against  the  crown." — Patent  Ro/hy 

p.  369- 

373 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

and  disorderly,  plundering  the  Englishry  and 
irritating  without  over-awing  the  natives.  The 
O'Moores  and  O'Conors,  recovering  from  their 
first  alarm,  began  to  return  to  their  old  haunts, 
burning  the  farms  and  driving  off  the  cattle  of 
the  settlers  who  had  supplanted  them.  The 
latter,  pillaged  alternately  by  the  native  Irish 
and  by  the  profligate  banditti  in  the  fortresses, 
abandoned  their  homes ;  and  nothing  was  left  of 
Bellingham's  handiwork  save  a  legacy  of  hatred 
which  no  subsequent  moderation  could  remove.^ 
During  the  reign  of  Edward  VI  numerous 
schemes  were  proposed  for  the  settlement  of 
the  conquered  districts.  At  one  time  the  idea 
appears  to  have  been  entertained  of  restoring 
the  natives  on  terms  similar  to  those  already 
granted  to  the  O'Tooles.'  But  this  arrange- 
ment had  no  sooner  been  suggested  than  it  was 
set  aside  in  favour  of  another  of  a  much  more 
revolutionary  character.  About  the  end  of  the 
year  1550  Chief  Justice  Aylmer,  Sir  John 
Travers,  and  other  persons,  all  closely  connected 
with  the  official  clique  which  has  always  been 
the  curse  of  Ireland,  came  forward  with  a  pro- 
posal which  would,  it  was  hoped,  relieve  the 
government   from    all   further    anxiety.     These 

^  Wise  and  Morton  to  Bellingham,  January  6,  1549.  St. 
Leger  to  the  Lord  Treasurer,  September  27,  1550. 

^  Privy  Council  to  the  Lord  Deputy  and  Council,  June  24, 
1549.  For  the  grant  to  the  O'Tooles  see  FiantSy  Henry  VIII, 
No.  548. 

374 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

gentlemen  offered  to  take  possession  of  Leix 
and  the  adjoining  districts,  which  they  described 
as  "  nov/  wholly  waste,"  that  is  to  say,  occupied 
by  mere  Irish.  If  their  request  was  granted 
they  were  willing  to  pay  an  annual  rent  of 
>r6oo,  and  one  nest  of  goshawks,  to  introduce 
colonies  of  English  farmers,  to  repair  the  for- 
tresses, and  generally  to  provide  for  the  defence 
of  the  country.^  The  Council  heartily  approved 
of  this  suggestion,  in  so  far  at  least  as  it  related 
to  the  expulsion  of  the  native  Irish ;  but  they 
were  anxious  to  preserve  the  ownership  of  the 
forfeited  estates  for  the  crown,  and  they  accord- 
ingly directed  that  the  colonists  should  receive 
leases  for  twenty-one  years,  and  be  exempted 
from  rent  for  the  first  two  years.  A  few  such 
leases  were  granted ;  but  the  plantation  went 
on  very  slowly,  and  in  January,  1552,  Crofts, 
who  had  lately  succeeded  St.  Leger  as  Lord 
Deputy,  advised  that  the  planters  should  receive 
estates  of  inheritance,  explaining  that,  owing  to 
the  hostility  of  the  former  owners,  who  were 
living  "  some  in  exile  and  some  in  extreme 
poverty,"  the  country  could  not  be  inhabited 
without  extreme  cost  and  danger,  which  no 
one  could  be  expected  to  incur  on  any  less 
favourable    terms."      The    English    government 

^  Petition  of  Sir  Gerald  Aylmer,  Sir  John  Travers  and 
others,  December,  1550. 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  the  Privy  Council,  January 
26,  1552. 

375 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

agreed  to  this  proposal ;  but,  owing  probably 
to  financial  embarrassments  and  the  discontent 
of  the  Pale,  little  was  done  towards  carrying 
it  into  effect  during  the  brief  remainder  of 
Edward's  reign.  On  the  accession  of  Mary, 
1553  when  Northumberland  was  in  rebellion  and 
the  crown  of  England  hung  trembling  in 
the  balance,  the  O'Moores  and  their  allies 
again  invaded  Leix  and  Offaly,  captured  the 
forts  which  had  been  erected  by  Bellingham 
and  Sir  James  Crofts,  and  massacred  the 
garrisons.^ 

The  disorder  was  not  confined  to  Leinster. 
No  part  of  the  Irish  policy  of  Henry  VIII  had 
been  crowned  with  more  immediate  success,  or 
was  productive  of  greater  ultimate  disaster,  than 
the  attempt  to  transform  the  leading  Celtic 
chiefs  into  feudal  noblemen.  When  Con 
O'Neil  became  Earl  of  Tyrone,  Murrough 
O'Brien  Earl  of  Thomond,  and  Ulick  Burke 
Earl  of  Clanricarde,  even  so  shrewd  an  observer 
as  Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger  could  believe  that  the 
remedy  for  Irish  anarchy  had  at  last  been  found. 
In  a  very  few  years  it  became  apparent  that  the 
Lord  Deputy  had  miscalculated,  and  that,  while 
the  loyalty  of  the  Irish  clansmen  to  their  chiefs 
was  very  great,  their  loyalty  to  their  national 
traditions  was  greater  still. 

Ulick,     first     Earl     of    Clanricarde,     whose 

^  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  the  King  and  Queen,  April 
4,  1557- 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

matrimonial  experiences  had  been  scarcely 
less  unfortunate  than  those  of  his  royal  master, 
died  within  a  year  of  his  elevation  to  the 
peerage,  and  his  country,  which  during  the  last 
months  of  his  life  had  enjoyed  unwonted  tran- 
quillity, was  once  more  plunged  into  confusion. 
"Whether  the  late  Earl  of  Clanricarde,"  wrote 
Brabazon,  "hath  any  heir  male,  it  is  not  yet 
known,  there  were  so  many  marriages  and 
divorces ;  but  no  doubt  he  married  his  last 
woman  solemnly."  At  a  judicial  inquiry  held 
before  Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger  six  months  later 
the  following  facts  were  ascertained.  The 
Earl  had  first  married  Grania,  daughter  of 
Mulrony  O'Carroll,  by  whom  he  had  issue 
Richard  Burke.  This  marriage  had  been  duly 
"solemnized  in  the  face  of  the  Church,"  and 
was  proved  by  respectable  witnesses.  After- 
wards, while  this  marriage  remained  in  force, 
the  Earl  had  gone  through  the  form  of  marriage 
with  his  cousin-german,  Honora  De  Burgh, 
"alleging  that,  a  long  time  before  the  said 
marriage  was  solemnized,  the  said  Grania  had 
been  lawfully  married  to  O'Melaghlin."  At  a 
later  period  the  Earl  divorced  his  second  wife 
for  some  reason  not  specified,  but  probably 
because  they  were  within  the  prohibited  degrees 
of  consanguinity,  and  subsequently  married 
Mary  Linch,  by  whom  he  had  issue  John 
Burke,  both  his  former  wives  being  still  living. 
The  validity   of  all   three   marriages  was   very 

377 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

doubtful;  but  Richard,  surnamed  Sassenagh,  the 
Earl's  son  by  his  first  wife,  eventually  succeeded 
in  convincing  St.  Leger  of  his  legitimacy.  His 
clansmen  w^ere  less  easily  satisfied,  "doubting," 
not  unnaturally  "whether  he  was  mulierborn 
or  bastard."  Legitimate  or  not,  the  young 
Earl  —  he  was  only  sixteen  years  of  age  — 
was  obviously  incapable  of  ruling  a  large  and 
turbulent  district;  and  the  Burkes,  who  were 
attached  to  the  custom  of  tanistry,  elected 
Ulick,  his  father's  cousin,  to  be  their  chieftain 
by  the  name  of  MacWilliam.  This  step 
was,  of  course,  a  direct  challenge  to  the 
government ;  but  St.  Leger,  who  felt  an 
instinctive  aversion  to  violence,  contrived  to 
arrange  a  compromise  between  the  rival 
claimants.  The  right  of  election  was  not 
formally  recognized ;  but  Ulick  was  appointed 
to  govern  the  country  during  the  minority  of 
his  kinsman,  and  the  latter  was  ordered  to  con- 
tent himself  with  the  name  of  Earl,  and  a 
small  pension,  until  he  should  have  completed 
his  twenty-third  year.  Earl  Richard  attained 
his  majority  in  1551,  and  in  the  same  year 
Ulick  Burke  died.  The  Earl  who,  of  course, 
was  supported  by  the  English  government, 
succeeded,  not  without  difficulty,  in  gaining 
possession  of  his  inheritance  ;  but  for  at  least 
ten  years  from  this  date  he  was  "warred  upon 
by  divers  of  his  kinsmen  and  Irishmen  bordering 
upon   him,   to  the    intent  to  destroy  his  estate 

378 


PLANTATION   OT  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

and  to  bring  the  country  to  Irish  government 
again."  ^ 

A  similar  but  rather  more  serious  outbreak 
occurred  a  few  months  later  in  Thomond,  where 
Donough  O'Brien,  "  being  by  the  King's  grant 
appointed  to  be  next  earl,"  was  opposed  by  his 
half-brother  Donnell,  who  had  been  elected 
"after  the  Irish  custom."  The  Earl,  who  was 
unpopular  with  his  clansmen  on  account  of  the 
part  which  he  had  taken  in  the  wars  of  the 
last  reign,  and  who  fully  realized  his  unpopu- 
larity, endeavoured  to  secure  his  position  by 
recognizing  Donnell  as  tanist — an  illogical 
arrangement,  which  brought  upon  him  the 
sharp  censure  of  the  Deputy.  But  Donough 
had  himself  been  appointed  to  the  earldom  in 
succession  to  his  uncle  Murrough,  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  latter's  direct  heirs  ;  so 
impossible  was  it  to  reconcile  the  rival  systems 
of  tanistry  and  feudalism.  During  the  last 
year  of  Edward's  reign,  and  throughout  the 
whole  reign  of  his  successor,  fighting  between 
the  two  factions  continued,  Donnell  being  sup- 
ported by  the  majority  of  his  own  clan,  by 
the  Geraldines,  and  by  nearly  all  the   Leinster 

^  Brabazon  to  St.  Leger,  March  24,  1544.  Order  of  the 
Lord  Deputy  and  Council  for  the  captainship,  superiority 
and  rule  of  the  country  of  Clanricarde,  October  9,  1544. — 
Carew  MSS.  Cusack  to  Northumberland,  May  8,  1552. 
Memorial  by  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  showing  the  state  that  Ire- 
land was  in  at  his  coming  thither,  and  the  state  it  is  now  in, 
April,  1562. 

379 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

and  Munster  Irish  :  Donough,  who  died  in 
1553,  and  after  his  death,  his  son  Connor  by 
Ormond,  by  the  English  government,  and  by 
Richard  of  Clanricarde,  whose  position  was 
almost  identical  with  their  own.  It  was  not 
until  Elizabeth  had  been  many  years  on  the 
throne  that  Connor  was  eventually  established 
in  peaceful  possession  of  the  earldom.^ 

But  the  troubles  in  Clanricarde  and  Thomond 
were  insignificant  compared  with  those  which 
had  their  origin  in  the  treaty  that  conferred 
upon  Con  O'Neil  the  title  of  Earl  of  Tyrone. 
By  this  treaty  the  great  Ulster  chieftain  had 
consented  in  his  own  name  and  that  of  his 
successors,  to  renounce  for  ever  the  name  of 
O'Neil,  and  to  accept  in  place  of  it  an  English 
earldom,  with  reversion  to  his  natural  son 
Matthew,  Baron  of  Dungannon.  Con,  it  is 
true,  had  a  legitimate  son,  Shane,  who  might 
reasonably  have  taken  exception  to  the  arrange- 
ment ;  but  Shane  was  at  this  time  a  mere  boy, 
and  his  protest,  if  he  made  any,  was  disregarded. 
Eight  years  later  the  situation  was  completely 
changed.  From  a  dull,  awkward  lad  Shane 
had  developed  into  a   young  man  of  remarkable 

^  Cusack  to  Northumberland,  May  8,  1552.  Indenture, 
May  9,  1552,  between  Donough,  Earl  of  Thomond,  and  Sir 
Donnell  O'Brien.  Ordinances  made  in  Michaelmas,  1554, 
between  Connor,  Earl  of  Thomond,  and  Donnell  O'Brien, 
named  O'Brien  according  to  the  ancient  custom  of  the 
country  {Carew  MSS.).  Memorial  by  the  Earl  of  Sussex, 
April,  1562.      Four  Masters^  1553-54' 

380 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

ability  and  energy,  and  it  was  no  longer 
possible  to  ignore  his  pretensions.  The  Baron, 
moreover,  was  unpopular  as  the  nominee  of  a 
foreign  government,  and  his  title  was  open  to 
other  grave  objections.  Not  only  was  he 
avowedly  illegitimate,  a  fact  of  altogether 
subordinate  importance,  but  it  was  more  than 
doubtful  whether  he  had  even  a  left-handed 
claim  to  the  name  of  O'Neil.  Not  until  he 
had  completed  his  sixteenth  year  had  he  been 
presented  to  his  pretended  father  by  his  mother, 
Alison  Kelly,  the  wife  of  a  blacksmith  at 
Dundalk.  The  woman  told  Con  that  the  boy 
was  his  son  ;  and  Con,  whose  amours  had 
been  numerous,  appears  to  have  accepted  the 
statement  without  suspicion.  He  was,  as  Shane 
afterwards  explained,  a  gentleman  ;  "  he  never 
denied  no  child  that  any  woman  named  to  be 
his."  But  Shane  was  less  easily  satisfied. 
He  asserted  roundly  that  the  whole  story  was 
a  fabrication  ;  and  Tyrone,  who  had  soon 
quarrelled  with  his  first-born,  ended  by  accepting 
Shane's  version.  In  1551  the  Baron  accom- 
panied Marshal  Bagenal  on  a  predatory 
expedition  into  Tyrone,  where  Shane  is  said 
to  have  had  a  narrow  escape  for  his  life  ;  but 
the  raid  ended  in  disaster,  and  the  imprisonment 
of  the  old  earl  in  the  next  year  tended  rather  to 
increase  than  to  diminish  the  anarchy  in  Ulster.^ 

^  Letters    patent    creating    Con    O'Neil,  Earl  of  Tyrone, 
October    i,    1542.     Questions   to     be     considered    touching 

381 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

Some  months  elapsed  before  the  Queen, 
occupied  with  more  pressing  matters,  found 
leisure  to  attend  to  Ireland.  Crofts,  who  had 
been  summoned  to  England  a  few  months 
before  the  death  of  Edward,  took  part, 
unhappily  for  himself,  in  the  abortive  insur- 
rection of  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt  ;  was  convicted 
and  sentenced  to  death  ;  and,  although  his  life 
was  spared,  it  was  impossible  that  he  should  be 
again  employed  in  the  service  of  the  govern- 
ment/ The  Lords  Justices,  Cusack  and  Aylmer, 
were  continued  in  office  until  November,  when 
Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger  became  Deputy  for  the 
third  time. 

St.  Leger  had  always  believed  in  governing 
Ireland  by  the  help  of  the  native  chiefs,  and  the 
first  year  of  his  administration  was  rendered 
1554  memorable  by  the  return  of  four  Irishmen  of 
rank,  who  had  been  absent  from  their  country 
for  many  years.  Gerald  of  Kildare,  the 
romantic  adventures  of  whose  boyhood  have 
been  related  in  a  previous  chapter,  had  escaped 
in  March,  1540,  to  St.  Malo.  Thence,  after 
leading  a  wandering  life  for  some  months,  he 
made  his  way  to  Rome,  where  he  received  a 
liberal  education  at  the  expense  of  his  kinsman, 
the  illustrious   Reginald    Pole.     At  the  age  of 

Shane  O'Neil,  1560  {Carew  MSS.).  Shane  O'Neil  to  the 
Queen,  February  8,  1561.  Bagenal  to  Crofts,  November  11, 
1551.     Campion,  p.  i88. 

^  Froude,  History  of  England^  VI,  144,  169. 

382 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

eighteen  he  attached  himself  to  the  Knights  of 
Malta,  served  with  distinction  against  the  Turks 
in  Tripoli,  and  was  subsequently  appointed 
Master  of  the  Horse  to  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Tuscany.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  VI  he 
returned  to  England  ;  ventured,  although  his 
attainder  was  still  unreversed,  to  appear  at 
court  under  a  transparent  incognito,  and  was 
graciously  received.  He  received  the  honour 
of  knighthood  ;  a  part  of  his  estate  was  at 
once  restored  to  him,  and  he  was  encouraged 
to  hope  that  the  restoration  of  the  remainder 
would  not  long  be  delayed.  The  accession  of 
a  Catholic  sovereign,  and  the  appointment  of 
his  relative  and  benefactor  to  be  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  and  Cardinal  Legate,  removed  the 
last  obstacles  to  his  fortune.  In  May,  1554, 
his  lands  and  titles  were  restored  by  letters 
patent  ;  and  in  November  of  the  same  year  he 
returned  to  Ireland. 

Kildare  was  accompanied  by  his  brother-in- 
law,  the  deposed  chief  of  Offaly.  O'Conor 
owed  his  release  from  the  Tower,  where  he  had 
been  confined  since  his  capture  in  1548,  to  the 
intercession  of  his  daughter  Margaret.  His 
return,  which  was  hailed  with  enthusiasm  by 
his  countrymen,  was  not  equally  acceptable  to 
the  Dublin  oligarchy,  and  he  had  not  been  long 
in  Ireland  when  he  was  again  imprisoned  on  sus- 
picion of  being  connected  with  the  insurrection 
which  had  once  more  broken  out  in  Offaly. 

383 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

Thomas,  tenth  Earl  of  Ormond,  who  had 
resided  in  England  since  the  death  of  his  father 
in  1 546,  returned  to  Ireland  almost  at  the 
same  moment  as  his  hereditary  rival.  With 
him  came  his  cousin,  Barnaby  FitzPatrick, 
afterwards  second  Baron  of  Upper  Ossory. 
FitzPatrick,  like  Ormond,  had  been  educated 
at  the  court  of  Edward  VI,  where  he  had  filled 
the  honourable,  if  sometimes  painful  office,  of 
whipping-boy  to  the  royal  prodigy.^ 

In  spite,  however,  of  these  concessions  to 
popular  sentiment,  St.  Leger's  third  vice-royalty 
was  less  tranquil  than  either  of  those  which  had 
preceded  it.  The  liberal  policy  which  he  had 
initiated,  and  in  which  alone  he  believed,  had 
become  for  the  moment  impracticable,  and  the 
measures  which  he  was  now  induced  to  sanction, 
although  harsher,  perhaps,  than  his  own  judg- 
ment approved,  failed  to  satisfy  his  colleagues 
1555  in  the  council.  In  the  summer  of  1555  the 
English  power  had  practically  disappeared  out 
of  Ireland.  O'Reilly  invaded  Meath,  and  was 
with  difficulty  reconciled  "by  the  great  travail 
and  diligence  of  the  Deputy";  but  St.  Leger 
was  less  fortunate  in  the  midlands,  where  the 
war  between  the  old  inhabitants  and  the  planters 

^  Four  Masters^  1553'  The  annalists  ante-date  the  return 
of  the  exiles,  and  many  other  events  of  this  reign,  by  a  year. 
Creation  of  Gerald  FitzGerald  as  Earl  of  Kildare,  May  13, 
1554  {Carew  MSS.).  For  Kildare  see  also  Stanihurst,  p.  305- 
307,  and  for  MacGillapatrick  Fuller,  Church  History^  VII,  47. 

384 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

continued  with  unabated  ferocity.  The  com- 
mand in  Leix  was  entrusted  to  Ormond,  and 
that  in  OfFaly  to  Kildare  ;  but  neither  nobleman 
made  any  great  progress  in  reducing  the  rebel- 
lious districts.  Sir  Donnell  O'Brien,  no  longer 
satisfied  with  the  sovereignty  of  Thomond, 
crossed  the  Shannon  and  pushed  forward  into 
Leinster,  where  St.  Leger  was  with  difficulty 
defending  himself  against  the  O'Moores.  On 
his  march  through  Tipperary  he  was  joined  by 
O'Carroll,  by  O'Kennedy,  by  O'Meagher,  by 
the  remnant  of  the  O'Moores  and  O'Conors, 
and  by  many  other  of  the  Leinster  and  Munster 
Irish.  The  Lord  Deputy  pitched  his  camp 
near  Fort  Protector,  the  modern  Maryborough  ; 
and  the  Irish  leader  in  Ely,  not  far  from 
Parsonstown.  Messages  were  exchanged,  and 
Sir  Donnell  consented  to  an  interview ;  not, 
however,  until  he  had  obtained  three  of  the 
principal  barons  of  the  Pale  as  hostages  for  his 
personal  safety.  The  negotiation,  of  course, 
came  to  nothing ;  the  pretensions  of  the  two 
parties  were  irreconcilable,  and  O'Brien,  scorn- 
fully rejecting  all  overtures,  marched  back 
undefeated  to  Thomond.^ 

The  next   year  opened  with   fresh   disasters. 
The  Kavanaghs  over-ran  a  great  part  of  Leinster,     1556 

^  Memorial  by  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  April,  1562.  The 
Four  Masters  correctly  place  this  episode  in  1 555,  but  are 
mistaken  in  supposing  FitzWalter  to  have  been  Lord  Deputy 
at  the  time. 

385  2C 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

and  carried  fire  and  sword  to  the  very  gates  of 
the  capital.  A  hosting  was  proclaimed  against 
them,  but  the  insurgents  proved  so  formidable 
that  St.  Leger  was  compelled  to  conclude  a 
truce  with  them  on  their  own  terms.  The 
O'Byrnes  and  O'Tooles,  encouraged  by  the 
success  of  their  neighbours,  returned  to  their 
old  trade  of  cattle-driving,  "  in  such  sort  as  no 
man's  life  or  goods  were  safe  within  three  miles 
of  Dublin."  Almost  at  the  same  moment  the 
O'Conors  and  O'Moores  attacked  the  Pale  from 
the  west.  Aided  by  Richard  Oge  FitzGerald, 
Maurice  MacWilliam  of  the  Naas  and  other 
disaffected  gentlemen,  relatives  or  dependents 
of  the  House  of  Kildare,  they  over-ran  a  great 
part  of  the  four  shires,  and  burnt  the  English 
frontier  from  Trim  on  the  north  to  Naas  in  the 
extreme  south. ^ 

^  Memorial  by  the  Earl  of  Sussex.  Richard  Oge  was 
a  natural  son  of  Richard  FitzGerald  of  Ballyshannon,  and 
a  grandson  of  Sir  Gerald  MacShane, — Pedigree  of  the 
FitzGeralds  of  Ballyshannon  in  the  Kildare  Archceological 
Journal^  III,  426.  "While  the  Deputy  staggered  uncertain 
of  continuance,  the  Tooles  and  the  Cavanaghs  waxed  cockish 
in  the  county  of  Divelin  (Dublin),  ranging  in  flocks  of  seven 
or  eight  score,  on  whom  set  forth  the  Marshal  and  sheriffs  of 
Divelin,  Buckley  and  Gygen,  with  the  city's  help,  and  over- 
laid them  in  sudden  skirmishes,  of  which  three  score  were 
executed  for  example." — Campion,  p.  184.  Ware  says  that 
the  Cavanaghs  captured  Powerscourt,  where  they  were  besieged; 
that  they  surrendered  on  a  promise  of  mercy;  and  that  seventy 
of  them  were,  nevertheless,  hanged. — Annals^  1556.  It  is 
impossible  to  reconcile  this  story  with  the  statements  of  the 
Lord  Deputy. 

386 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

But  St.  Leger  had  other  and  more  formidable 
enemies  than  the  disaffected  Irish.  The  tolerant, 
half-sceptical  spirit  which  had  excited  the  indig- 
nation of  Archbishop  Browne  was  as  displeasing 
to  the  Catholic  advisers  of  Mary  as  to  the  Pro- 
testant fanatics  who  had  surrounded  the  throne 
of  her  brother  ;  and  the  discovery  of  some  verses 
satirizing  the  doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence, 
which  he  had  written  during  the  preceding 
reign,  is  said  to  have  been  the  immediate  cause 
of  his  downfall.^  In  April,  1556,  his  recall 
was  officially  announced,  and  Thomas  Radcliffe, 
Lord  FitzWalter,  better  known  by  his  later 
title  of  Earl  of  Sussex,  was  appointed  to  succeed 
him. 

FitzWalter's  instructions  differed  little  from 
those  which  had  been  issued  to  his  prede- 
cessor. He  was  ordered,  "  both  bv  his  own 
good  example  and  by  all  other  good  means  to 
him  possible,  to  advance  the  honour  of  Almighty 
God,  the  true  Catholic  faith  and  religion,  now 
by    God's    great    goodness    and    special    grace 

^  "  He,  to  be  counted  forward  and  pliable  to  the  taste  of  King 
Edward  VI  his  reign,  rhymed  against  the  Real  Presence, 
and  let  the  papers  fall  where  courtiers  might  light  thereon, 
who  greatly  magnified  the  pith  and  conveyance  of  that  noble 
sonnet.  But  the  original  of  his  own  handwriting  had  the  same 
firmly,  though  contrary  to  his  own  judgment,  wandering  in  so 
many  hands  that  his  adversary  caught  it  and  tripped  it  in  his 
way,  the  spot  whereof  he  could  never  wipe  out.  Thus  was 
he  removed,  a  discreet  gentleman,  very  studious  of  the  state  of 
Ireland,  enriched,  stout  enough,  without  gall." — Campion,  p. 
184.     Cf.  Ware,  Annals^  i555- 

387 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

recovered  in  England  and  Ireland  ;  and  namely 
to  set  forth  the  honour  and  dignity  of  the  Pope's 
Holiness  and  See  Apostolic  of  Rome ;  and  to  be 
ready  from  time  to  time,  at  the  request  of  all 
spiritual  ministers  and  ordinaries,  to  punish 
and  repress  all  heretics  and  Lollards  and  their 
damnable  sects,  opinions  and  errors."  Cardinal 
Pole,  it  was  added,  intended  in  brief  time 
to  dispatch  certain  commissioners  and  officials 
to  visit  the  clergy  and  other  members  of  the 
realm  of  Ireland  ;  and  FitzWalter  v^^as  expressly 
commanded  "  to  assist,  aid  and  further  the  same 
commissioners,  officials,  their  ministers  and  com- 
mandments, for  the  advancement  of  God's  glory 
and  the  honour  of  the  See  Apostolic."  Turning 
to  more  mundane  matters,  the  Deputy  was 
ordered  to  see  the  laws,  "both  those  already  made 
and  those  at  the  next  parliament  to  be  made," 
strictly  executed ;  to  grant  no  pardons  or  safe- 
conducts  "  but  with  good  advice  and  upon  just 
consideration";  to  reform  the  administration  of 
justice,  which  was  scandalously  and  notoriously 
corrupt ;  and  to  take  various  steps  for  the 
improvement  of  the  revenue.^ 

A  second  paper  of  instructions  deals  more 
particularly  with  the  projected  settlement  of 
Leix  and  Offaly.  It  was  proposed  to  divide  the 
conquered  districts  into  three  equal  parts.  Of 
these  the  western  part,  consisting  chiefly  of  bog, 

^  Instructions  to  Lord  FitzWalter,  April  28,  1556. — Carew 
MSB. 

388 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

moor  and  forest,  was  to  be  restored  to  the  Irish, 
who  were  "  to  choose  by  their  own  agreement 
among  themselves  a  number  of  their  own  septs 
to    receive    and    enjoy   the    same    inheritance." 
The  more  fertile  eastern  districts  were  to  be  dis- 
tributed amongst  English  subjects,  "  as  well  such 
as  be  born  in  England  as  Ireland,  having  respect 
to  men  of  honesty  and  good  service,  and  such 
as  have  most  need  and  be  likeliest  to  do  good 
thereon."    No  grant  was  to  exceed  three  plough- 
lands    in    the    case  of  an    Englishman,  or   two 
ploughlands  in   the    case    of  a    native.     Every 
grantee,  whether  English  or  Irish,  was  to  hold 
his  land  in  soccage ;  the  land  so  held  to  descend 
to  his  heir  male,  paying  "  heriot  and  relief"  at 
every  decease ;  to  "  answer  the  common  law  " 
at  all  law  days,  sessions  and  assizes ;  to  serve  the 
Queen,  when  called  upon  by  the  Lord  Deputy, 
at  his  own   charges  against  all  rebels,  enemies 
and  traitors ;  to  pay  his  rent  duly  twice  every 
year ;  to  present  himself  once  in  every  twelve 
months  before  the  constable  of  Maryborough  or 
Philipstown  to  "  answer  for  the  good  rule  and 
order  of  himself  and  his  household,"  and  to  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance ;  to  cut  down  the  woods, 
keep  open  the  fords  and  passes,  and  repair  the 
bridges  ;    to  build  a  house  of  stone  or  timber, 
and  to  reside  continually   on    his  estate.     The 
English   were    further   required   "  to    keep    for 
every  ploughland  one  man  at  the  least  of  English 
birth  or  nation,  and  he  to  be  an  archer,  and  not 

389 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

above  one  of  Irish  blood"  ;  not  to  sell  or  lease 
their  lands  or  any  part  thereof  to  any  Irishman 
or  Englishman  born  in  Ireland ;  and  to  keep 
sufficient  weapons  for  themselves  and  one  man 
for  each  ploughland.  No  Irishman  was  to  keep 
more  than  one  man  on  each  ploughland  "except 
the  same  be  English,  or  of  their  own  sept,  and 
he  to  be  no  idleman  but  a  labourer";  or  to 
have  in  his  house  more  than  one  suit  of  harness, 
"  and  the  same  to  be  for  his  own  body,"  or  any 
fire-arms  without  the  written  permission  of  the 
Lord  Deputy.  The  possession  of  unlicensed 
fire-arms  was  to  be  punished  with  death  ;  any  in- 
fringement of  the  other  conditions  by  forfeiture. 
In  order  to  induce  the  O'Conors  and  the  rest 
to  accept  these  hard  terms  FitzWalter  was 
authorized,  "if  he  should  find  the  said  O'Conors 
conformable,  to  set  and  restore  O'Conor  to 
liberty,  to  end  the  rest  of  his  days  in  peace 
among  his  children  and  kin,  with  our  good 
favour."^ 

The  Lord  Deputy-elect,  attended  by  Sir 
Henry  Sidney,  Sir  William  FitzWilliam,  and 
other  gentlemen  of  rank,  landed  in  Dublin  on 
Whit  Sunday,  May  24th.      On  the  next  day  he 

^  Additional  instructions  to  Lord  FitzWalter,  April2  8,  1556. 
Cotton  MSS.y  Tiiusy  Bk.  xi,  241. — I  am  indebted  for  my 
knowledge  of  this  important  paper,  as  well  as  for  much  other 
valuable  information,  to  a  most  interesting  article  by  Mr. 
Dunlop  on  "The  Plantation  of  Leix  and  OfFaly,"  in  the 
English  Historical  Review  for  January,  1891. 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

dined  with  St.  Leger  at  Kilmainham,  and,  after 
a  brief  consultation,  returned  to  the  capital  the 
same  evening.  On  Tuesday  St.  Leger  attended 
High  Mass  at  Christ  Church,  "  not  permitting 
any  of  his  gentlemen  to  precede  him,  or  the 
sword  to  be  borne  before  him."  During  the 
service,  which  was  performed  by  the  supple 
Curwen,  the  Lord  Deputy  remained  in  the 
chapel  on  the  left  side  of  the  altar,  "  the  Lord 
FitzWalter  kneeling  somewhat  distant  from 
him."  The  old  Deputy,  who  had  introduced 
the  Protestant  ritual  under  Edward,  and  the 
new  Deputy,  who  was  to  restore  the  Protestant 
ritual  under  Elizabeth,  listened  with  equal  and 
exemplary  piety  to  the  exhortations  of  a  prelate 
whose  convictions  were  not  less  elastic  than 
their  own.  When  Mass  was  ended  St.  Leger 
advanced  to  the  altar.  Sir  George  Stanley  bear- 
ing the  sword  before  him,  and,  after  making 
a  reverent  obeisance,  sat  down.  FitzWalter's 
patent  was  then  delivered  to  John  Parker, 
Master  of  the  Rolls,  who  read  it  aloud,  the 
whole  company  devoutly  kneeling.  St.  Leger 
then  rose  from  his  knees,  set  FitzWalter  in  his 
own  seat,  and,  taking  the  sword  from  Stanley, 
solemnly  surrendered  it  to  his  successor.  The 
Archbishop  of  Dublin  then  read  the  oath, 
which  FitzWalter  took  upon  a  Mass  book  pro- 
vided for  the  purpose  by  Athlone  Pursuivant-at- 
Arms. 

On   the  Wednesday  the   new   Deputy  again 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

attended  Mass  at  Christ  Church,  where  he  was 
received  under  a  canopy  by  the  archbishop  and 
clergy.  After  kissing  the  crucifix,  and  being 
duly  censed  and  blessed  by  the  archbishop,  he 
advanced  to  the  altar,  where  he  offered  a  piece  of 
gold,  and  remained  for  some  minutes  in  prayer. 
The  ceremony  was  repeated  on  the  following 
day  in  St.  Patrick's,  to  the  edification  of  pious 
Catholics  and  the  exquisite  amusement  of  all 
who  were  acquainted  with  the  real  sentiments 
of  the  Viceroy.^ 

The  state  of  Ireland,  when  FitzWalter 
assumed  the  government,  was  more  critical  than 
it  had  been  since  the  campaign  of  Bellahoe.  In 
Leinster  the  O'Moores,  the  O'Conors,  and  the 
Kavanaghs  were  in  arms,  and  the  borders  of  the 
Pale  were  over-run  with  brigands.  The  return 
of  Ormond  had  revived  the  normal  anarchy  in 
Munster.  The  Earl  of  Desmond  had  repented 
of  his  short-lived  loyalty,  had  "  knit  himself  in 
amity  "  with  his  old  enemy,  MacCarthy  Mor, 
and  was  understood  to  be  meditating  a  fresh 
rebellion.  The  O'Briens  had  expelled  the  Earl 
of  Thomond  from  Clare ;  the  Burkes  were 
making    war    on    the    Earl    of   Clanricarde    in 

^  A  Journey  made  by  the  Earl  of  Sussex  in  the  year  1556 
{Carew  MSS.).  This  document  is  signed  "  Philip  Butler, 
alias  Athloon  Pursuivant  d'Armes  d'Irlande,"  and  dated 
August  8,  1556.  But  it  is  a  copy,  and  the  original  must 
have  borne  a  different  title,  since  FitzWalter  did  not  become 
Earl  of  Sussex  until  February,  1557. 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

Galway.  The  O'Kellys  and  O'Farrels  had 
revolted,  and  had  reduced  the  country  on  both 
sides  of  Athlone  to  a  wilderness.  In  the  north 
Shane  O'Neil  and  the  Scots  were  at  war,  and 
O'Donel  "  stood  upon  doubtful  terms."  ^ 

From  this  period  until  the  death  of  Mary, 
history  records  little  save  a  monotonous  suc- 
cession of  feeble  raids,  costly  to  the  crown  and 
inexpressibly  burdensome  to  the  subject.  The 
Queen  and  her  ministers  were  too  busy  stamping 
out  heresy  at  home  to  bestow  more  than  a 
passing  thought  upon  Ireland  ;  and  the  Deputy,, 
who  had  neither  the  military  abilities  of  Lord 
Leonard  Gray  nor  the  statesmanlike  insight 
of  St.  Leger,  oscillated  helplessly  between  a 
policy  of  conciliation  varied  by  treachery,  and 
a  policy  of  aggression  tempered  by  weakness. 

Ulster  was  then  and  long  afterwards  the 
principal  theatre  of  disorder.  During  the  past 
five  years  the  growth  of  the  Scottish  settlement 
had  been  amazingly  rapid.  Confined  originally 
to  the  Glens  of  Antrim,  to  which  they  could 
show  some  sort  of  title,  the  MacDonnells  had 
gradually  extended  their  sway  over  the  whole 
of  the  eastern  counties.  They  had  expelled 
the  McQuillins  from  the  Route  ;  they  had 
occupied  Clandeboye,  besieged  Knockfergus,  and 
levied  black  rent  from  the  English  colonists  in 
Lecale.      Bellingham,   St.  Leger  and  Crofts  had 

^  Memorial  by  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  April,  1562. 

393 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

all  attempted  to  reduce  them,  but  without 
success.  The  immigrants,  when  FitzWalter 
landed,  numbered  seven  thousand,  and  the  immi- 
gration still  continued.^  But  their  presence, 
while  it  excited  the  fears  of  the  English  govern- 
ment, was  no  less  unwelcome  to  the  O'Neils, 
whose  traditional  supremacy  in  Ulster  they 
threatened  to  dispute.  It  has  always  been  a 
maxim  of  English  statecraft  to  keep  Ireland 
weak  by  keeping  her  divided  ;  and  FitzWalter 
had  no  sooner  set  foot  in  Ireland  than  he  formed 
an  alliance  with  Tyrone,  and  marched  north- 
ward to  subdue  the  MacDonnells.  The  O'Neils, 
however,  gave  him  very  little  assistance.  The 
old  Earl  was  a  cipher  ;  and  Shane,  the  real  ruler 
of  the  clan,  may  have  thought  that  the  Scots 
were,  upon  the  whole,  less  dangerous  neighbours 
than  the  English.  A  slight  skirmish  took  place 
near  Glenarm,  where  from  sixty  to  eighty  Scots 
were  killed  ;  this  and  the  capture  of  a  few  cows 
making  the  sum  total  of  the  Deputy's  successes. 
At  the  end  of  six  weeks  the  Deputy,  his  pro- 
visions being  exhausted,  marched  back  to 
Dublin  "  without  receiving  submission  or 
hostages."  The  whole  proceeding  irresistibly 
recalls  the  nursery  rhyme  which  commemorates 

^  Cusack  to  Warwick,  September  27,  1551.  Cusack  to 
Northumberland,  May  8,  1552.  Sussex  to  the  King  and 
Queen,  April  4,  1557.  Dowdall  to  Heath,  November  17, 
1557.  Instructions  to  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  March  20,  1558. 
Four  Masters^  1552,  1555. 

394 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

the    exploits    of    a    too     celebrated     Duke     of 
York.^ 

On  his  return  from  the  north  FitzWalter 
again  invaded  Leix  and  Offaly,  which  he  burned 
and  pillaged  in  the  orthodox  fashion.  On 
September  30th  he  received  the  Queen's  thanks 
for  his  services  in  reducing  the  O'Moores, 
O'Conors  and  O'Tooles.^  On  October  4th 
Rory  and  Donough  O'Conor,  "with  the  rest 
of  the  gentlemen  and  usurped  inhabitants  of 
Offaly,"  appeared  before  the  Lord  Deputy  at 
Dengen,  offering  to  "deliver  the  country  of 
Offaly,  which  they  wrongfully  kept,  and  to 
receive  at  their  Majesties'  hands  such  portions 
of  the  said  country,  and  upon  such  sort  and 
condition  as  the  Lord  Deputy  should  in  their 
Majesties'  name  appoint."^  Rory  and  the  rest 
were  then  dismissed,  Donough  being  detained 
as  a  hostage.  The  latter,  if  FitzWalter  is  to  be 
believed,  willingly  consented  to  this  arrange- 
ment ;  but   another  and    much    more    probable 


^  Four  Masters^  1555  [1556].  Journey  by  the  Earl  of 
Sussex,  July  i  to  August  8,  1556.  {Carew  MSS.).  A  little 
later  we  find  Sussex  in  alliance  with  the  Scots  against  Shane 
O'Neil.  The  apparent  anomaly  is  explained  by  a  letter  of 
Sir  Nicholas  Arnold  to  Cecil,  January  29,  1565.  "  With  the 
Irish  and  Scots  I  am  at  the  same  point  as  with  bears  and 
ban-dogs ;  so  that  they  fight  earnestly  and  tug  each  other  well 
I  care  not  who  has  the  worst." 

^  The  Privy  Council  to  FitzWalter,  September  30,  1556. 

^  Order  to  proclaim  Rory  and  Donough  O'Conor  traitors, 
February  25,  1557  {Haliday  MSS.). 

395 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

story  represents  the  Deputy  as  having  per- 
fidiously detained  Donough  in  violation  of  his 
safe-conduct.'  On  November  29th  Connell  Oge 
O'Moore  and  the  other  chiefs  of  the  O'Moores 
signed  a  similar  submission  at  Leighlin.'  A 
state  paper,  undated  but  probably  written  in 
December  of  this  year,  contains  a  scheme  for 
the  "disposition"  of  Leix  obviously  based  on 
the  assumption  that  no  further  resistance  was 
to  be  apprehended.  The  chief  of  each  sept 
was  to  name  those  of  his  followers  for  whom 
he  would  be  answerable  ;  the  persons  so  named 
to  be  considered  as  Englishmen  from  the  time 
of  their  submission,  to  hold  their  lands  of  the 
fort,  and  to  "  answer  the  laws  of  the  realm  as 
other  Englishmen  do."  The  conditions  upon 
which  they  were  to  hold  their  lands  were  sub- 
stantially identical  with  those  outlined  in  the 
Queen's  instructions,  but  they  were  somewhat 
more  stringent.  They  were  to  forsake  the  use 
of  the  Brehon  law,  coyne  and  livery,  and  all 
Irish  exactions ;  to  wear  the  English  dress ;  to 
teach  their  children  to  speak  English,  and  to 
marry  none  but  Englishwomen.  Besides  the 
O'Moores  the  government  proposed  to  plant  in 
Leix  one  hundred  and  sixty  able-bodied  men, 
English,  with  their  wives,  children  and  servants. 

^  Four  Masters^  1556.  Shane  O'Neill  to  Lord  Deputy- 
Sydney,  February  18,  1566. 

^  Submission  of  Connell  Oge  O'Moore  and  the  rest  of 
his  sept  [Holiday  MSS.). 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

In  their  case,  as  in  that  of  the  natives,  forfeiture 
was  prescribed  for  using  the  Brehon  law, 
abandoning  the  English  dress,  language  or 
manner  of  living,  and  marrying  or  fostering 
with  the  Irish.  The  colonists  were  further 
required  to  build  a  church  in  every  "  town  " 
within  three  years,  "  and  a  parson  of  English 
birth  to  have  the  tithe."  At  a  later  period 
"  English  "  was  interpreted  as  meaning  Protes- 
tant ;  but  this,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  formed 
no  part  of  the  original  scheme.^ 

On  December  15th  Rory  and  some  others 
of  the  O'Conors  had  a  second  interview  with 
FitzWalter,  when  the  plans  for  the  approaching 
plantation  were  discussed,  and  Donough  was 
released,  other  hostages  being  taken  in  his  place. 
The  negotiators  parted  amicably,  the  brothers 
promising  to  present  themselves  before  the 
Council  a  third  time  on  the  Thursday  in 
Christmas  week,  "  there  to  receive  for  them 
and  the  rest,  whose  names  they  should  bring 
with  them  written  in  a  bill,  such  portions  of 
the  said  country  as  for  every  of  them  should 
by  us  the  Lord  Deputy  in  their  Majesties' 
name  be  appointed."  But  Donough,  having 
once  got  his  neck  out  of  the  noose,  was  in 
no  haste  to  trust  himself  again  in  the  Deputy's 
hands.     He  flatly  refused   to   "  come   in,"  and 

^  Orders  for  Leix.  Orders  for  the  holding  of  the  English 
that  shall  be  placed  in  Leix.  The  consignation  of  Leix, 
December,  1556. 

397 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

FitzWalter,  after  two  or  three  vain  attempts  to 
induce  him  to  surrender,  hanged  his  hostages, 
offered  a  reward  of  £ioo  for  his  head,  and 
1557  prepared  to  invade  his  territory.'  Before  the 
end  of  February  the  whole  of  Offaly  was  on 
fire.  The  O'Moores  rose  in  Leix  a  few  weeks 
later.^  From  Leix  the  flames  spread  rapidly  to 
the  adjoining  districts.  The  O'Dunns  and  the 
O'Dempseys,  the  O'Carrolls  and  the  O'Molloys, 
all  the  tribes  whose  lands  bordered  on  the  plan- 
tation and  to  whose  liberties  the  garrisons  were 
a  standing  menace,  flew  to  arms.  In  a  little 
while  a  war — distinguished  even  among  English 
wars  in  Ireland  by  the  merciless  ferocity  of  the 
contending  factions — was  raging  along  the 
western  frontier  of  the   Pale.^ 

On  June  ist,  after  an  interval  of  fifteen  years, 
a  parliament  again  met  in  Dublin.  The  whole 
country  was  bitterly  discontented,  but  the  par- 
liament represented  only  the  English  interest ; 
the  close  boroughs  gave  the  crown  a  permanent 
majority  in  the  commons ;  and  the  bills  which 
had  been  transmitted  from  England  became  law 
with  little  opposition.  A  bull  of  Paul  IV, 
absolving  the  kingdom  from  all  offences  com- 
mitted during  the  schism,  was  read  aloud  by  the 

^  Order  to  proclaim  Rory  and  Donough  O'Conor  traitors. 
{Haliday  MSS.). 

^  Not,  however,  before  April.  On  the  fourth  of  that  month 
FitzWalter  wrote  that  the  O'Moores  were  quiet. 

^  Four  Masters,  1557. 

398 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

Lord  Chancellor  on  his  knees,  the  members  of 
both  Houses  kneeling.  After  this  pious  preamble 
the  real  business  of  the  session  began.  The 
Queen  was  declared  to  have  been  born  in  just 
and  lawful  matrimony,  and  all  acts  and  sentences 
to  the  contrary  were  revoked.^  A  subsidy  of 
thirteen  shillings  and  fourpence  per  annum  upon 
every  ploughland — an  enormous  sum  when  the 
poverty  of  the  country  is  consideced — was  im- 
posed for  a  period  of  ten  years.^  All  statutes 
and  provisions  directed  against  the  See  Apos- 
tolical since  the  twentieth  year  of  Henry  VIII 
were  repealed,^  and  three  acts  for  the  punish- 
ment of  heretics  passed  during  the  reigns  of 
Richard  II,  Henry  IV,  and  Henry  V  were 
revived.^  The  first  fruits  and  twentieth  parts 
which  Henry  had  seized  for  the  crown  were 
restored  to  the  Church;^  but  the  act  which 
restored  the  Roman  jurisdiction  confirmed  the 
grantees  of  abbey  lands  in  the  possession  of  their 
ill-gotten  gains.  It  could  scarcely  have  obtained 
the  assent  of  the  legislature  on  any  other  terms. 
The  restoration  of  the  papal  supremacy  failed 
to  heal  the  wounds  of  the  Irish  Church  ;  a 
common  hostility  to  the  Reformation  did  not 
suffice  to  bridge  the  gulf  which  had  long  divided 
the  Celtic  from  the  Anglo-Irish  clergy.  The 
sentiments  of  the  latter  body  are  vigorously 
expressed  in  the  petition  of  Archbishop  Dowdall 

^  3  &  4  Philip  and  Mary,  c.  13.  ^  Ibid.,  c.  12. 

3  Ibid.,  c.  8.  ''  Ibid.,  c.  9.  5  if^i^^^  ^^  jQ^ 

399 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OAFFLY 

for  licence  "  to  exercise  all  kinds  of  ecclesiastical 
censures  against  the  wild  Irish."  Certain 
"  learned  men,"  it  seems,  were  of  opinion  that 
it  was  "  matter  of  priemunire  "  to  curse  even 
an  Irishman  "  in  a  temporal  cause,  no  less  than 
to  curse  a  subject  ";  and  his  Grace  was  anxious 
to  be  informed  whether  Hibernicism  was  to  be 
considered  as  a  temporal  or  as  an  ecclesiastical 
offence.  The  Queen  was  as  little  disposed  to 
relax  the  statute  of  praemunire  as  her  father  had 
been  ;  but  she  considered  that  the  excommuni- 
cation of  Irishmen  was  an  object  so  laudable  as 
to  justify  the  suspension  of  all  ordinary  rules  ; 
and  she  sent  orders  to  the  Lord  Deputy  that 
the  Primate  was  to  have  permission  to  curse 
the  natives  to  his  heart's  content.^  As  for  the 
bishops  and  priests  in  the  "  mere  Irish  "  districts, 
they  remained  under  Mary  what  they  had  been 
under  Henry  and  Edward,  "  the  common  spies 
and  ministers  of  mischief";  and  Fitz Walter 
could  suggest  no  better  remedy  than  a  rigorous 
enforcement  of  the  law  which  confined  ecclesi- 
astical   preferments    to    Englishmen.^     English 

^  Private  suits  of  George  Dowdall,  Archbishop  of  Armagh, 
1558.     The  Queen  to  Sussex,  August  4,  1558. 

^  "I  should  also  wish  a  discreet  man  to  be  sent  out  of 
England,  who  should  be  bishop  of  those  parts,  as  well  to 
see  the  premises  observed  in  his  diocese,  as  also  to  give  example 
to  other  bishops  to  do  the  like  in  reforming  their  dioceses ;  and 
the  ministers  under  them,  who,  it  is  as  pitiful  as  true,  be  now 
the  common  spies  and  messengers  of  mischief,  and  make  their 
churches  not  only  in  the  north   but  also  throughout  the  most 

400 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

bishops,  more  zealous  for  the  political  ascendancy 
of  their  own  race  than  for  the  spiritual  welfare 
of  the  congregations  committed  to  their  charge, 
have,  both  before  and  after  the  Reformation, 
displayed  an  unrivalled  capacity  for  making 
themselves  and  their  Church  unpopular  in 
Ireland  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  if  Queen  Mary 
had  lived,  and  the  policy  which  the  Lord 
Deputy  recommended  had  been  steadily  carried 
out  for  twenty  years,  the  Irish  would  have 
become  the  most  violent  Calvinists  in  Europe. 
But  speculations  as  to  what  might  have  been 
lie  outside  the  province  of  the  historian. 

The  ecclesiastical  settlement  which  Mary 
regarded  with  so  much  satisfaction  lasted  less 
than  three  years.  Three  other  acts  passed  by 
the  same  parliament  produced  more  enduring 
and  more  pernicious  results.  The  first  of  these, 
entitled  "  an  act  for  the  disposition  of  Leix 
and  Offaly,"  relates  that  the  countries  of  Leix, 
Slewmarge,  Irry,  Offaly,  and  Glenmalier,  "which 
belong  of  right  to  the  King's  and  Queen's  most 
excellent  Majesties,"  had  been  of  late  wholly 
possessed  by  the  O'Moores,  O'Conors,  and  other 

of  Ireland,  Hker  to  stables  for  horses  and  herdhouses  for  cattle 
than  holy  places  to  minister  with  due  reverence  the  most 
blessed  sacraments  in ;  and  use  them,  as  appeareth  by  the  filth 
in  them,  more  to  that  purpose  than  to  the  other ;  which 
ungodliness  among  Christian  men  it  may  please  your  Majesty, 
with  the  advice  and  authority  of  my  Lord  Cardinal's  grace,  to 
see  abolished  and  the  disorder  reformed." — Opinions  of  Lord 
Fitz Walter,  January,  1557. 

401  2  D 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

rebels,  "  and  now  by  the  laborious  travail  of  the 
Earl  of  Sussex  brought  again  to  be  in  the  pos- 
session of  their  Majesties "  ;  and  that  "  the 
well-disposing  of  the  aforesaid  countries  and 
planting  of  good  men  there,"  would  "  not  only 
be  a  great  strength  to  those  quarters,  but  also  a 
wonderful  assurance  of  quiet  to  all  the  English 
countries,  and  a  great  terror  to  all  the  Irish 
countries  bordering  upon  the  same."  The  Lord 
Deputy  is  accordingly  authorized  "  to  give  and 
grant  to  all  and  every  their  Majesties'  subjects, 
born  within  this  realm  or  within  the  realm  of 
England,  such  several  estates  as  for  the  more 
sure  planting  and  strength  of  the  said  countries 
with  good  subjects  shall  be  thought  unto  his 
wisdom  and  discretion  meet  and  convenient."^ 
This  act  was  accompanied  by  another  "  for 
making  Leix  and  OfFaly  shireland."  The  pre- 
amble recites  that  the  O'Moores,  O'Conors, 
O'Dempsies,  and  other  Irish  enemies  formerly 
inhabiting  Leix,  Offaly,  and  the  adjacent  countries, 
had,  by  their  repeated  rebellions,  "  provoked  the 
most  worthy  prince.  King  Edward  VI,  to  use 
his  power  against  them  ;  who  at  length,  to  his 
great  charge,  did   subdue   and   repress  the  said 

^  3  &  4  Philip  and  Mary,  c.  i.  The  acts  of  this  parh'a- 
ment  are  not  printed  in  the  order  in  which  they  were 
passed.  The  act  for  the  disposition  of  I/cix  and  OfFaly  is 
c.  7  on  the  roll  but  c.  i  of  the  printed  statutes,  while 
the  act  declaring  the  Queen  to  have  been  born  in  lawful 
matrimony,  which  stands  first  on  the  roll,  is  c.  13  of  the 
printed  statutes. 

402 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

Irish  enemies " ;  that  since  that  time  the 
O'Moores  and  the  rest  had  "  traitorously,  con- 
trary to  their  bounden  duties,  entered  the  said 
countries  and  held  the  same  against  the  King's 
and  Queen's  Majesties,  until  such  time  as  their 
Majesties,  by  the  diligent  and  painful  travail  of 
the  Earl  of  Sussex,  by  the  sword  evicted  and 
reduced  the  said  countries  out  of  the  wrongful 
and  usurped  possession  of  the  said  Irish  enemy"  ; 
and  that,  since  neither  of  the  aforesaid  countries 
was  known  to  be  within  the  limits  of  any  shire 
or  county,  no  title  could  be  found  for  the  crown. 
It  was  therefore  enacted  that  these  countries 
should  be  converted  into  counties,  with  sheriffs, 
coroners,  and  the  other  usual  officers.^  In  com- 
pliment to  the  Queen  and  her  consort  the  new 
shires  received  the  names  of  Queen's  County 
and  King's  County,  and  the  forts,  which  were 
afterwards  converted  into  market  towns,  those 
of  Maryborough  and  Philipstown  respectively. 
By  writers  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  name 
Leix  is  frequently  used  as  synonymous  with 
Queen's  County,  and  Offaly  as  synonymous 
with  King's  County ;  but  this  nomenclature  is 
far  from  accurate.  OfFaly  originally  comprised, 
in  addition  to  the  eastern  half  of  the  present 
King's  County,  the  baronies  of  East  and  West 
OfFaly  in  Kildare  and  those  of  Portnahinch 
and  Tinnehinch  in  Queen's  County  ;  while  the 

^  3  &  4  Philip  and  Mary,  c.  2. 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

territories  of  Delvin  M'Coghlan,  Fercal  or 
O'Molloy's  country,  and  Ely  O'Carroll,  corres- 
ponding to  the  modern  baronies  of  Garrycastle, 
Ballycowan,  Eglish,  Clonlish,  and  Ballybritt, 
formed  no  part  of  the  ancient  Offaly.  Leix  is 
conterminous  with  the  modern  Queen's  County, 
exclusive  of  the  baronies  of  Portnahinch  and 
Tinnehinch,  and  of  the  territory  of  Upper 
Ossory,  now  represented  by  the  baronies  of 
Clandonagh,  Clarmallagh,  and  Upperwoods.^ 

A  third  act  passed  during  the  same  session 
proves  that  the  government  contemplated  the 
extension  of  the  policy  of  "  shiring,"  with  its 
inevitable  accompaniments  of  confiscation  and 
colonization,  to  other  parts  of  the  island.  The 
preamble  relates  that  divers  and  sundry  robberies, 
murders,  and  felonies  were  daily  and  hourly  done 
and  committed  within  sundry  towns,  villages, 
and  other  waste  grounds,  being  no  shire-grounds, 
to  the  great  loss  of  divers  and  sundry  true  sub- 
jects. It  was  therefore  enacted  that  the  Lord 
Chancellor  for  the  time  being  should,  at  any 
time  when  parliament  was  not  sitting,  have  full 
power  and  authority  to  direct  their  Majesties' 
commission  to  such  number  of  persons  as  he 
should  think  most  meet  and  convenient  to  view, 
survey,  and  make  inquiry  of  all  towns,  villages, 
and  waste  grounds,  being  no  shire-grounds ;  and 
to  limit,  make,  nominate,  and  divide  all   such 

^  Book  of  Rights^  pp.  215-216,  and  Dr.  O'Donovan's  notes. 

404 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

towns,  villages,  and  waste  grounds  into  such 
and  so  many  shires,  counties,  and  hundreds  as 
should  be  thought  by  their  wisdoms  most  meet 
and  convenient.^ 

But  this  legislation  was  little  more  than 
the  expression  of  a  pious  wish.  Confiscation, 
which  in  other  countries  has  so  often  followed 
conquest,  has  in  Ireland  uniformly  preceded  it; 
the  so-called  "  grants "  amounted  merely  to  a 
permission  to  the  grantees  to  take  possession  of 
whatever  lands  they  could  wrest  from  the 
natives.  Nevertheless,  with  the  passing  of  these 
acts,  the  war  entered  on  a  new  and  more  merci- 
less phase.  A  powerful  vested  interest  had  been 
created  which  made  all  further  compromise  or 
conciliation  impossible.  The  planters  conceived 
that  they  had  a  right  to  demand  security  from 
the  government,  and  argued,  not  altogether 
unreasonably,  that  no  security  was  possible  until 
the  old  inhabitants  had  been  exterminated.  The 
Irish  on  their  side  fought  with  the  ferocity 
of  men  whose  all  was  at  stake.  Quarter  was 
neither  given  nor  taken.  Connell  Oge  O'Moore 
and  his  ally  MacMurrough  Kavanagh  were 
captured,  by  treachery  it  is  said,  and  hanged, 
or,  according  to  another  account,  crucified  at 
Leighlin  Bridge  ;^  but  the  dastardly  deed  served 
only  to  infuriate  their  clansmen.     In  July  the 

^  3  &  4  Philip  and  Mary,  c.  3. 

^  Four  Masters^  i557.  Warc*s  J  una  Is,  1557.  Bowling's 
Annals.     Shane  O'Neil  to  Sydney,  February  18,  1566. 

405 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

Lord  Deputy,  having  prorogued  the  parliament, 
invaded  the  King's  County,  and  some  hard 
fighting  took  place.  In  his  report  to  the  Queen 
Sussex  described  this  expedition  as  a  brilliant 
success  ;  but  he  was  unable  to  conceal  the  fact 
that  the  O'Conors  had  burnt  the  suburbs  of 
Philipstov^n  as  well  as  several  "  towns  "  in  the 
Pale.^  In  the  autumn  the  Irish  again  invaded 
Leix  and  Offaly,  which  they  "destroyed  and 
burned,  saving  certain  forts."  ^  In  the  next 
year  they  laid  siege  to  Maryborough,  which 
was  held  for  the  crown  by  the  Lord  Deputy's 
brother.  Sir  Henry  Radcliife.  The  attack  was 
repulsed  and  several  of  the  assailants,  including 
the  redoubtable  Richard  Oge,  were  killed  ;  but 
this  did  not  end  the  rebellion.'  At  the  acces- 
sion of  Elizabeth  the  new  counties  remained 
"  unstablished  and  unhabited,  being  planted  only 
with  men  of  war,"  and  the  charge  was  "like  to 
grow  daily  more  intolerable."  ^  More  than  a  year 
later  Sussex  himself  described  the  plantation  as  a 
work  which  he  had  long  contemplated,  but  the 
execution  of  which  he  had  been  repeatedly 
compelled  to  postpone.'^  For  two  generations 
the   savage  struggle  continued,   growing    every 

^  Journey  by  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  July,  1557. 
2  Dowdall  to  Heath,  November  17,  1557. 
^  Sussex  to  Boxoll,  June  8,  1558. 
*  Instructions  to  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  May,  1560. 
^  Lord  Lieutenant  and  Council  to  the  Queen,  October  23, 
1561. 

406 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

year  more  savage.  In  pitched  battles  the  victory 
usually  remained  with  the  English.  But  it  was 
not  by  pitched  battles  that  the  result  of  such  a 
contest  could  be  determined.  The  country  was 
admirably  adapted  for  guerilla  warfare.  The 
bog  of  Allen,  the  Slievebloom  and  Slievecomar 
mountains,  and  the  vast  forests  which,  in  the 
time  of  Mary,  and  even  a  hundred  years  later, 
covered  the  entire  central  plain  of  Ireland,  pro- 
vided a  secure  retreat  for  the  outlaws.^  Thither 
they  retired  when  the  English  host  was  in  their 
country,  and  thence  they  issued  forth  during 
the  long  winter  nights,  which  a  learned  judge 
of  the  last  century  once  described  as  suitable  for 
the  "removal"  of  obnoxious  politicians,  to  burn 

^  "  Lease  est  regiuncula  silvestris  et  uliginosa  ;  primarium 
oppidum  est  Maryburg,  ubi  cum  suo  seneschallo  prassidiarii 
agunt,  qui  sese  asgre  defendunt  contra  O'Moores  (qui  se  ut 
antiques  hujus  dominos  gerunt),  MacGilpatrick,  O'Dempsios  et 
alios,  malefica  et  tumultuosa  hominum  genera,  qui  ad  Anglos 
deturbandos  nihil  non  quotidie  moliuntur." — Letterpress  pre- 
fixed to  Janssen's  Map  of  Leinster.  The  natural  and  artificial 
features  of  the  country  are  very  clearly  shown  in  the  first  map 
of  Leix  and  Offaly,  supposed  to  have  been  executed  in  1563. 
This  map,  of  w^hich  the  original  is  in  the  British  Museum, 
was  reproduced  in  facsimile  in  the  Kilkenny  Archceological 
Society's  Journal  iox  1868.  As  late  as  1 650,  Gerard  Boate 
described  the  country  as  "  full  of  woods,  some  whereof  be 
many  miles  long  and  broad." — Natural  History  of  Ireland^ 
ch.  15.  For  the  extent  of  the  woods  a  hundred  years  earlier 
see  Robert  Dillon  to  Bellingham,  October  15,  1548.  "A 
portion  of  OfFaly  called  Fercal  is  so  strong  as  nature  could 
devise  to  make  it  by  reason  of  woods  and  bogs." — Description 
of  the  provinces  of  Ireland,  1580  (?)  [Carew  AISS.). 

407 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

farms,  to  drive  off  cattle,  and  to  cut  the  throat 
of  any  Englishman  who  wandered  outside  the 
walls  of  the  towns. ^  The  majority  of  the 
planters,  harassed  by  the  natives  and  feebly 
supported  by  the  government,  abandoned  their 
homes  in  despair.  At  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century  three-fourths  of  the  "planted"  district 
was  still  occupied  by  the  Irish.'  At  length,  when 
James  I  had  been  many  years  on  the  throne, 
Sir  Arthur  Chichester  succeeded  in  deporting 
the  remnant  of  the  O'Moores  to  Kerry.  The 
last  O'Conor  had  been  killed  a  few  years  earlier.' 
War  was  declared  against  France  in  June, 
and  to  the  war  with  France  a  war  with  Scotland 
was  soon  added.  With  the  revival  of  the 
European  struggle  the  disorders  of  Ireland 
assumed  a  more  serious  aspect.  O'Conor's  son, 
Cormac,  was  in  Scotland,  and  George  Paris, 
who  had  given  so  much  trouble  to  the  govern- 
ment in  the  last  reign,  had  reopened  negotiations 
with    the  Court  of  France.'*     Kildare  too  was 

^  State  PaperSj  Elizabeth,  passim.  See  especially  a  letter  of 
Walter  Peppard  to  Cecil,  October  8,  1562  ;  and,  for  an 
example  of  the  cruelties  on  the  other  side.  Lord  Justice  and 
Council  to  the  Queen,  October  31,  1564.  See  also  O'SuUivan's 
Compendium^  p.  88,  and  Dr.  Kelly's  note. 

^  Four  Masters,  1600.  Fynes  Moryson's  Itinerary,  pt.  ii, 
bk.  I,  ch.  2. 

'  Report  upon  the  state  of  the  kingdom  of  Ireland  upon  the 
view  of  certain  commissioners  sent  thither  in  the  year  1622 
{S/oane  MSS.,  4756.). 

*  The  King  and  Queen  to  Sussex,  June  23, 1557.  The  Queen 
to  Sussex,  June  2,  1558.      Sussex  to  BoxoU,  June  8,  1558. 

408 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

discontented.  The  Queen,  when  she  restored 
his  title  and  estates,  had  thought  it  wise  to 
abridge  some  part  of  the  enormous  powers  which 
his  ancestors  had  enjoyed.  The  Earl  scarcely- 
pretended  to  conceal  his  resentment  ;  and  his 
hostility  was  a  source  of  considerable  embarrass- 
ment to  the  government,  which  was  unable  to 
trust  and  afraid  to  quarrel  with  him.^  The 
Geraldine  estates  separated  Leix  and  Offaly 
from  the  Pale,  and,  unless  Kildare  could  be 
either  crushed  or  conciliated  the  effective  pro- 
secution of  the  war  in  the  midlands  was 
impossible. 

The  state  of  the  north  was  still  more  alarming. 
In  peace  the  Ulster  Scots  were  little  more  than 
a  gang  of  robbers  ;  the  declaration  of  war  con- 
verted them  into  the  advance  guard  of  an 
invading  army,  and  rendered  their  expulsion  at 
once  most  necessary  and  most  difficult. 

In  October  Sussex,  having  failed  to  reduce 
the  midlands,  once  more  turned  his  attention 
to  Ulster.  His  object  on  this  occasion  was  to 
assist  the  Baron  of  Dungannon  against  his  brother 

^Depositions  of  Donnell  MacOny  (May  14,  1557),  Shane 
Burge  (May  22),  Alexander  MacTurlough  (May  22),  Phelim 
MacNeil  Boy  (June  24),  relative  to  the  claim  of  the  Earl 
of  Kildare  to  levy  "  bonnaught."  The  three  former  papers 
are  in  the  Record  Office,  the  last  in  Lambeth.  The 
"  bonnaught "  was  originally  a  tax  imposed  by  the  eighth 
Earl  of  Kildare  when  deputy  for  the  King's  service  ;  but  that 
Earl  and  his  son  had  held  office  so  long  that  the  tax  had  come 
to  be  regarded  as  their  personal  property. 

409 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

Shane.  He  succeeded  in  reaching  Armagh, 
where  he  pitched  his  camp  in  the  cathedral 
and  burnt  a  great  part  of  the  town.  Having 
done  this,  and  taken  a  few  more  cows,  he 
returned  to  Dublin  ;  Shane,  who  had  contrived 
to  evade  a  meeting,  promptly  retaliating  by 
burning  several  villages  in  the  Pale.^ 

Similar  expeditions  were  afterwards  under- 
taken into  Munster  and  Connaught,  but, 
although  the  Lord  Deputy  penetrated  as  far 
south  as  Waterford,  and  as  far  west  as  Galway, 
he  made  no  permanent  impression.^  This  noble- 
man held  office  under  both  Mary  and  Elizabeth; 
the  results  of  his  government  are  best  described 
in  a  state  paper  of  the  latter  reign.  "  And 
when  in  time  of  war  with  any  Irishry  of  power, 
as  of  late  with  O'Neil,  occasion  moveth  the 
governor  to  proclaim  a  main  journey  for  thirty 
or  forty  days  to  invade  the  enemy's  country, 
the  governor  goeth  with  the  army  and  force  of 
the  English  Pale,  to  their  great  charge,  where 
they  continue  out  their  days  while  their  victuals 
last,  and  then  fain  to  return  home  again,  as 
many  times  they  do,  without  booty  or  other 
harms  done  or  yet  can  be  done  to  a  waste 
country,   the    inhabitants    whereof,    whilst    the 

^  A  Journey  made  by  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  October  22-30, 
1557  (Carew  MSS.).  Letter  of  the  Council  from  Armagh, 
October  25  {Haliday  MSS.).     Four  Masters^  1557- 

^  A  minute  account  of  these  expeditions  by  Athlone,  Pur- 
«uivant-at-Arms,  will  be  found  in  the  Carew  MSS. 

410 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

English  host  is  in  their  country,  shutteth  all 
their  cattle  into  woods  and  pastures,  where  they 
continue  until  the  English  army  be  gone  ;  and 
then  do  they  come  into  the  plains  of  their 
country  with  their  cattle  again,  where  they  are 
ready  anew  to  invade  and  spoil  the  English 
Pale  as  before  ;  as  commonly  they  do  bring 
with  them  great  booties  out  of  the  borders  of 
the  same,  whereof  if  recovery  be  not  made  by 
hot  pursuit  of  some  part  of  that  they  take  away, 
very  seldom  or  never  can  be  found  anything  of 
theirs  worth  the  having  to  be  taken  from  them 
for  the  same  again.  So  as,  by  these  appearances, 
wheresoever  the  service  is  done,  the  same  is  a 
charge  to  the  Queen's  Majesty,  a  burden  to  the 
liege  people  to  the  decay  both  of  them  and  the 
English  soldiers,  fretting  one  another  of  them- 
selves, with  small  defence  to  the  Pale,  nor  yet 
can  be  any  great  scourge  to  the  enemy,  who 
always  gaineth  by  our  losses,  and  we  never  gain 
by  them,  although  we  win  all  we  play  for,  the 
stakes  being  so  unequal,  not  a  penny  against  a 
pound,  for  that  the  English  Pale  is  planted  with 
towns  and  villages,  inhabited  with  people  resident, 
having  goods  and  chattels,  corn  and  household 
stuff,  good  booties  for  the  Irish  enemies  to 
take  from  us,  and  their  countries  being  kept  of 
purpose  waste,  uninhabited,  as  where  nothing 
is,  nothing  can  be  had."^ 

^  The  disorders  of  the  Irishry  and  the  state  of  the  English 
Pale    and    civil    shires    [Carew  AISS.,  vol.    iii).      This   very 

411 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

The  government,  meanwhile,  continued  to 
excite  hatred  by  its  crimes  and  contempt  by  its 
weakness.  Creeds  might  come  and  creeds  might 
go,  but  the  essential  features  of  the  administra- 
tion never  altered.  Mary,  on  coming  to  the 
throne,  had  endeavoured  to  conciliate  her  English 
subjects  by  restoring  the  currency  ;  but  Ireland 
suffered  rather  than  profited  by  a  reform  from 
the  benefits  of  which  she  was  expressly  excluded. 
A  proclamation  of  September,  1556,  made  the 
circulation  of  base  money  penal  except  in  Ireland, 
and  the  bad  coins,  which  were  no  longer  current 
in  England,  found  their  way  in  vast  quantities 
across  St.  George's  Channel.  Trade  came  to  an 
end ;  the  treasury  was  empty ;  and  the  army 
could  only  be  maintained  by  marauding.  Out- 
lying garrisons,  after  devastating  the  districts 
in  which  they  were  stationed,  retreated  into 
the  Pale  and  lived  upon  the  plunder  of  the 
Englishry.  In  many  places  these  exactions 
proved  so  intolerable  that  the  farmers  abandoned 
their  homes  and  took  refuge  in  the  "  mere 
Irish  "  districts,  in  which  at  least  there  was  some 
sort  of  security  for  life  and  property.^ 

interesting  paper  is  undated,  but  the  internal  evidence  shows 
that  it  must  have  been  written  in  157 1.  "This  thirty-seven 
years  past  since  the  rebellion  of  Thomas  FitzGerald."  It  is, 
however,  to  a  great  extent,  a  transcript  of  two  earlier  docu- 
ments, the  "  Book  of  the  decay  and  waste  of  the  English  Pale," 
1558,  and  the  "Book  of  the  causes  of  the  disobedience  and 
disorders  of  the  Irishry,"  August,  1559. 

^  A  Proclamation  for  good  order  between  the  soldiers  and 

412 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

The  Council,  too,  were  quarrelling  in  the 
usual  fashion.  Sussex  and  Dowdall  agreed  in 
hating  and  reviling  the  mere  Irish.  But  they 
agreed  in  nothing  else.  The  Primate  was 
thoroughly  loyal,  but  not  even  the  most  loyal 
prelate  could  applaud  a  Deputy  who  sacked 
churches  with  as  little  compunction  as  the 
wildest  of  wild  Irishmen.  On  November  17th 
Dowdall  wrote  to  Dr.  Heath,  Archbishop  of 
York,  bitterly  denouncing  the  conduct  of  the 
Viceroy.  The  vice-regal  army  had  occupied 
Armagh,  had  pillaged  the  cathedral  and  burnt 
several  churches,  but  the  writer's  own  wrongs 
moved  him  less  than  the  miseries  of  the  country. 
Ireland,  he  averred,  was  in  a  worse  state  than  it 
had  ever  been  within  his  remembrance,  "except 
the  time  only  that  O'Neil  and  O'Donel  invaded 
the  English  Pale  and  burned  a  great  piece  of  it." 
The  north  was  "  as  far  out  of  frame  as  ever  it 
was."  The  Scots,  having  successfully  defied  all 
efforts  to  reduce  them,  bore  rule  "  not  only  in 
such  lands  as  they  did  lately  usurp,  but  also  in 
Clandeboye"  ;  and  the  O'Moores  and  O'Conors 
had  once  more  "  destroyed "  Leix  and  Offaly. 
The     letter     concludes    with     a     petition    for 

the  country,  March  27,  1557  {Haliday  MSS.).  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Armachane  his  opinion  touching  the  government 
of  Ireland  [Harleian  MSS.^  vol.  xxxv,  No.  4).  Simon's  Essay 
en  Irish  Coins^  p.  36.  Ruding's  Annals  of  the  Coinage^  I,  331. 
Articles  "On  the  Irish  Coins  of  Queen  Mary,"  by  the  Rev. 
Aquila  Smith  in  the  Kilkenny  Archao logical  Journal^  vol.  iii, 
PP-  357-368. 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

redress  of  such  hurts  and  damages  as  the  see 
of  Armagh  had  sustained  durmg  the  late 
invasion.^ 

It  was  probably  in  consequence  of  these  com- 
plaints that  the  Lord  Deputy  was  summoned  to 
1558  London  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  year  to 
confer  with  the  English  government  on  the 
state  of  Ireland.  Sydney  and  Curwen  were 
appointed  to  act  as  Lords  Justices  during  his 
absence  ;  but  the  archbishop  soon  retired  and 
the  whole  burden  of  administration  devolved 
upon  his  colleague.  The  dispatches  of  Sussex 
were  written  with  the  uniform  purpose  of  mag- 
nifying his  own  services  and  concealing  his  own 
failures  ;  Sydney,  whatever  may  have  been  his 
faults,  had  at  least  the  merit  of  never  deceiving 
his  employers,  and  his  letters  throw  a  flood  of 
light  on  the  condition  of  the  country. 

Calais  fell  in  January,  and  the  "dolorous 
news"  reached  Ireland  a  month  later.  An 
invasion  was  hourly  expected,  and  nineteen  out 
of  every  twenty  Irishmen  were  prepared  to 
welcome  the  invaders.  Even  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Pale  were  "weary  and  irke  "  of  a  govern- 
ment which  performed  none  of  the  duties  for 
the  performance  of  which  governments,  in 
theory  at  least,  are  supposed  to  exist.  Men, 
money  and  weapons  were  alike  wanting,  and 
the  Lord  Justice  believed  that,  if  reinforcements 

^  Dowdall  to  Heath,  November  17,  1557. 
414 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

were  not  sent  without  delay,  Ireland  would  go 
the  way  of  Calais.  A  fortnight  later  he  wrote 
to  Sussex  in  a  strain  of  still  greater  despondency. 
If  the  Queen  was  not  prepared  to  send  speedy 
succours  she  ought,  he  insisted,  to  make  up  her 
mind  to  abandon  Ireland.  "  It  shall  be  more 
for  the  Queen's  honour  that  we  be  called  home 
by  order  than  driven  home  with  shame."  In 
a  previous  dispatch  the  writer  had  complained 
of  the  depreciation  of  the  currency  ;  but  now 
even  the  bad  coin  was  scarce,  and  the  letter 
concludes  with  an  abject  appeal  for  "  money  at 
this  pinch  though  it  be  as  base  as  counters.'* 
On  the  same  day  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin 
also  wrote  to  Sussex,  enclosing  an  extremely 
alarming  letter  which  he  had  received  from 
William  Piers,  the  constable  of  Carrickfergus. 
"  One  of  the  chief  men  in  Ireland,  G." — the 
Earl  of  Kildare  is  evidently  meant — was  said  to 
be  "a  true  Frenchman  and  the  chief  doer  with 
Scots  and  Frenchmen."  Truth,  as  we  all  know, 
lies  at  the  bottom  of  a  wine-cup,  and  Sorley 
Boy,  the  new  chief  of  the  MacDonels,  "  being 
merry  with  drink,"  had  been  discussing  the 
political  situation  with  injudicious  candour. 
"  He  said  plainly  that  Englishmen  had  no  right 
to  Ireland,  and  said  further  they  would  never 
trust  Englishmen  more,  but  said  he  would  trust 
the  Earl  of  Kildare,  who,  quoth  Sorley,  hath 
more  right  to  this  country ;  in  effect  those  very 
words  he  spake."     The  writer  concludes  with 

415 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

an  earnest  exhortation  that  "  the  man  whose 
name  beginneth  with  G."  should  be  sent  into 
England  and  detained  there.  Until  this  was 
done  there  was  no  hope  of  reforming  Ireland, 
"  and  I  fear  me  there  will  a  further  mischief 
ensue,  if  your  honours  seek  not  presently  to  do 
as  aforesaid  away  with  him  in  time." 

Nor  was  Piers  the  only  person  who  urged 
the  government  to  procure  Kildare's  removal. 
In  an  anonymous  report  presented  to  Sydney  in 
the  same  month  the  Earl  was  described  as  "  the 
chief  and  only  hinderer  of  Her  Majesty's  affairs 
and  your  lordship's  good  proceedings."  It  was 
said  that  he  was  the  prime  mover  in  a  con- 
spiracy in  which  Lord  Kilcullen,  Sir  Thomas 
FitzThomas,  the  Bishop  of  Kildare,  and  many 
other  gentlemen  of  the  Pale  were  engaged;  that 
nearly  all  the  lawyers  in  Ireland  were  in  his 
employment ;  that  his  desire  was  "  to  have  the 
room  and  office  of  the  deputationship,"  to  which 
indeed  he  had  a  sort  of  hereditary  claim,  and 
that  his  steward  had  been  overheard  to  say  at 
Portlester  "  that  this  realm  would  never  be  well 
so  long  as  an  Englishman  had  the  government 
thereof,  and  never  until  such  time  as  my  lord 
his  master  had  the  government."  ^ 

^  Lord  Justice  and  Council  to  the  Privy  Council,  February 
8,1558.  Sydney  to  Sussex,  February  26.  Curwen  to  Sussex, 
February  26.  Piers  to  Curwen,  February  14,  enclosed  in  the 
preceding.  Articles  against  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  by  an  Irish- 
man of  Portlester.  Lord  Justice  and  Council  to  the  Queen, 
-March  i. 

416 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

But  France  once  more  suffered  the  psycho- 
logical moment  to  slip  past ;  the  Earl  of  Sussex 
returned  to  Ireland  in  April,  bringing  large 
reinforcements  with  him,  and,  after  a  few  weeks 
of  uncertainty,  the  country  settled  down  into 
what  was  now  its  normal  condition.  There  was 
no  general  rising,  but  every  province  had  its 
particular  disturbances.  The  war  in  the  King's 
and  Queen's  counties  dragged  on  with  infinite 
loss  of  life,  but  with  no  other  perceptible  result; 
the  Scots  made  fresh  raids  on  Ulster,  and  the 
O'Briens  continued  to  cut  each  other's  throats 
in  Thomond. 

An  idea  had  long  been  entertained  in  official 
circles  that  the  continual  residence  of  the  Chief 
Governor  at  Dublin  was  unfavourable  to  the 
tranquillity  of  the  country,  and  Sussex  was 
ordered  to  keep  constantly  travelling  from  one 
part  of  the  island  to  another.^  The  Lord 
Deputy  carried  out  these  instructions  to  the 
letter.  But  Ireland  profited  very  little  by  his 
activity,  for  his  dignity  required  that  he 
should  be  attended  by  a  large  retinue,  and  his 
poverty  compelled  him  to  support  his  retinue  by 
plunder.  The  supplies  which  he  had  brought 
from  England  were  soon  exhausted.  At  mid- 
summer, 1558,  the  condition  of  Ireland  was 
worse,  if  possible,  than  it  had  been  twelve 
months  earlier.     The  bad  money  had  produced 

^  Instructions  to  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  March  20,  1558. 

417  2  E 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

bankruptcy,    and    bankruptcy   famine,   and    the 
people  everywhere  were  dying  in  hundreds/ 

Sussex,  when  in  London,  had  persuaded  the 
Queen  that  the  accusations  brought  against  him 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Armagh  were  false  or 
exaggerated,  and  Dr.  Dowdall  was  commanded 
to  repair  to  England  "  to  be  ordered  as  apper- 
taineth  for  slandering  unjustly  of  a  minister  in 
so  great  a  charge."^  The  Primate  reached 
London  in  June,  and  was  examined  before  the 
Privy  Council  a  month  later.  He  defended  his 
conduct  in  a  long  and  most  interesting  speech, 
which  has  fortunately  been  preserved  ;  and 
perhaps  no  other  extant  document  throws  so 
clear  a  light  upon  the  character  of  the  Irish 
government  at  this  unhappy  epoch.  The 
speech  opens  with  an  able  but  partial  survey 
of  Anglo-Irish  history  from  the  date  of  the 
so-called  conquest.  The  archbishop  describes 
the  state  of  Ireland  on  the  eve  of  the  Norman 
invasion,  the  success  of  the  invaders,  and  the 
subsequent  decay  of  the  colony.  This  decay 
he  attributed  to  three  causes.  First,  the 
"  nations  of  the  Irish  blood,"  who  had  retained 

^  "  A  man  may  ride  south,  west,  and  north  thirty  or  forty 
miles  and  see  neither  house,  corn,  ne  cattle.  Many  hundreds 
of  men,  women,  and  children  are  dead  of  famine." — Articles 
by  the  Primate  of  Armagh,  May  30,  1558.  Sussex,  in  a 
letter  to  Boxoll  (June  3),  expressly  attributes  the  "  dearth  " 
to  the  "  baseness  "  of  the  money. 

^  The  Queen  to  Dowdall,  February  7.  Sussex  to  the  Privy 
Council,  April  7. 

418 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

their  lands  at  the  conquest — the  O'Neils, 
O'Donels,  O'Briens,  Kavanaghs  and  others — 
had  continued  to  use  their  old  customs  "  with- 
out law  or  any  good  order  ;  and  this  is  the 
only  cause  of  all  the  disorder  and  daily  trouble 
of  that  realm."  Secondly,  as  the  immigration 
from  England  had  declined  and  the  Irish  had 
begun  to  recover  from  their  first  alarm,  the 
latter  had  reconquered  a  great  part  of  the  lands 
which  had  been  taken  from  them  at  the 
conquest,  "  and  murdered  some  and  banished 
the  other  part  of  the  English  subjects  that 
dwelled  in  the  lands  which  they  recovered," 
until  many  districts,  particularly  in  Ulster, 
which  in  the  fourteenth  century  had  been  "  as 
English  as  any  part  of  the  Pale,"  were  inhabited 
by  none  but  Irishmen  and  Scots.  Thirdly, 
many  of  the  old  English  families  which  had 
settled  in  Ireland  in  the  twelfth  century — the 
Burkes  and  Berminghams  in  Connaught,  the 
Barrys,  the  Roches,  and  some  of  the  Geraldines 
in  Munster,  are  particularly  mentioned — 
"  having  their  lands  among  the  wild  Irish, 
far  distant  from  the  succour  of  the  Pale  and 
the  Lord  Deputy  for  the  time  being,"  had 
intermarried  with  the  natives  and  adopted  their 
manners,  and  were  ready  to  rebel  whenever  an 
opportunity  presented  itself,  "after  the  custom 
of  all  other  Irishmen."  By  these  means  "  the 
English  tongue,  the  English  rule,  the  English 
habit,  and,  more  to  be  rued,  the  English  power," 

419 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

had  decayed,  until  in  the  year  of  grace  1558, 
not  a  tenth  part  of  Ireland  remained  obedient. 

Coming  next  to  his  own  time  the  archbishop 
discussed  in  detail  the  steps  which  must  be 
taken  to  "  reform  "  the  country.  A  thorough 
reformation  could  only  be  effected  in  one  of 
two  ways.  The  best  course  would  be  "  to  bring 
all  the  Irish  rebels  by  their  own  consent  to 
become  subjects,  live  civil,  obedient  to  the 
King's  laws,  whereunto  their  consents  will  not 
be  had."  Nothing,  in  Dr.  Dowdall's  opinion, 
could  be  more  advantageous  to  the  natives 
themselves  ;  but  "  the  pride  and  ravenous 
behaviour  of  their  forefathers  "  were  "  so  printed 
in  their  hearts  "  as  to  afford  little  hope  of  their 
conformity.  The  alternative  policy  was  to  expel 
or  massacre  the  natives,  and  to  "  plant "  the 
whole  island  with  Englishmen.  "  And  truly 
this  is  the  most  godly  way  of  reformation,  and 
most  profitable  and  commodious  for  their 
Majesties  and  that  poor  realm  also,  if  it  might 
be  brought  easily  to  pass,  as  it  cannot."  But, 
however  "  godly  "  such  a  proceeding  might  be, 
the  archbishop  sadly  acknowledged  that  it  was 
not  expedient  ;  and  "  godliness,"  he  thought, 
might  for  the  moment  be  legitimately  sacrificed 
to  expediency. 

A  thorough  reformation,  whether  by  consent 
or  force,  being  alike  impracticable,  it  only 
remained  to  consider  such  minor  measures  of 
reform    as     might     be    attempted     with     some 

420 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

prospect  of  success.  Two  matters  in  particular 
called  for  the  immediate  attention  of  the 
government — the  plantation  of  Leix  and 
Offaly,  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Ulster  Scots. 
Alike  from  a  military,  a  financial  and  a  social 
standpoint,  the  former  enterprise  has  hitherto 
proved  a  complete  failure.  The  Queen,  at  her 
accession,  had  evidently  contemplated  a  pacific 
policy,  for  Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger  had  been 
ordered  to  reduce  the  army  to  five  hundred 
men.^  In  June,  1558,  the  garrisons  of  Philips- 
town  and  Maryborough  alone  contained  one 
thousand  five  hundred  troups  in  the  pay  of  the 
crown,  besides  horsemen  and  kerne  "  found  by 
the  country."  The  expense  had  been  enormous, 
and  the  prospect  of  a  satisfactory  settlement  was 
as  remote  as  ever.  If  the  Deputy,  with  the 
forces  then  in  Ireland,  could  not  reduce  the 
O'Moores  and  O'Conors  before  the  beginning 
of  the  approaching  winter  "  in  such  sort  as  they 
shall  never  be  able  to  raise  head  again,"  it  would 
be  "  very  hard  to  vanquish  them,  or  to  keep 
them  out  of  Leix  and  OfFaly,  or  from  enjoying 
the  English  Pale,"  and  considerations  both  of 
prudence  and  humanity  would  make  it  advisable 
to  treat  with  them.  Some  men,  no  doubt, 
would  say  that  it  was  "  not  for  the  Queen's 
honour  to  make  peace  with  that  people  ";  but 
no  man  was  fit  to  govern   Ireland  until  he  had 

^Instructions  to  Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger,  October,  1553. 

421 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

laid  to  heart  the  evangelical  maxim,  "  remitterc 
usque  ad  septuagessies  sepsies." 

Turning  next  to  the  Scotch  colonists  in  Ulster, 
the  Primate  described  the  steps  which  he 
proposed  to  take  for  the  expulsion  of  these 
unwelcome  intruders.  The  sea  between  Antrim 
and  the  Mull  of  Kintyre  was  so  narrow,  and 
the  Irish  coast  so  well  furnished  with  landing- 
places  that  it  was  practically  impossible  to 
prevent  the  Scots  from  making  descents  upon 
Ulster  ;^  but  to  prevent  them  from  making 
permanent  settlements  ought  to  be  not  only 
possible  but  easy.  The  only  difficulty  lay  in 
the  distance  of  the  invaders  from  the  Pale  and 
the  disaffection  of  the  Irish  tribes  by  whom 
they  were  surrounded.  Happily  the  Irish  had 
very  good  reason  to  dread  and  dislike  the 
invaders,  and  would  willingly  assist  the  govern- 
ment against  them  if  once  they  were  convinced 
that  the  government  harboured  no  evil  inten- 
tions towards  themselves.  Only,  in  order  to 
secure  their  support,  it  was  absolutely  essential 
that  all  aggressive  designs  against  the  native 
Irish  should   be  frankly   and   finally  abandoned. 

^  "  When  the  Scots  do  come  the  most  part  of  Clandeboye, 
M'Quillin  and  O'Cahan  must  be  at  their  commandment  in 
finding  them  in  their  countries ;  and  hard  it  is  to  stay  the 
coming  of  them,  for  there  be  so  many  landing-places  between 
the  island  of  Rathlin  and  Knockfergus;  and  above  Rathlin 
standeth  so  far  from  defence  as  it  is  very  hard  to  have  men  to 
be  there  continually,  being  so  far  from  help." — Cusack  to 
Northumberland,  May  8,  1552. 

422 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

If  this  were  done,  it  would  be  an  easy  matter 
to  induce  all  the  Irishmen  of  Ulster,  "whom 
you  call  the  wild  Irish,"  to  make  war  upon 
the  McDonnels;  Tyrone,  O'Donel,  O'Neil  of 
Clandeboye,  and  O'Cahan  might  all  be  trusted 
to  do  their  parts,  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Scots 
would  be  effected  without  expense  to  the  crown. 
If  the  O'Moores  and  O'Conors  were  reconciled 
and  the  Scots  expelled  it  would  be  possible  to 
make  a  considerable  reduction  in  the  army. 
Three  hundred  English  soldiers — one  hundred 
horse,  one  hundred  bowmen,  and  one  hundred 
gunners,  with  six  hundred  native  gallowglasses, 
would  then  suffice  for  the  defence  of  the  country, 
and,  if  the  policy  of  conciliation  were  steadily 
and  cautiously  pursued,  it  ought  in  a  short  time 
to  be  possible  to  make  still  further  reductions. 
In  order  to  do  this  it  was  only  necessary  for  the 
Deputy  to  bear  in  mind  that  "clemency  and 
good  discretion"  were  "more  meet  in  a  governor 
than  rigour  or  coolness,"  and  to  "behave  him- 
self accordingly,  to  win  the  love  and  favour  of 
all  the  country,  and  specially  of  the  mere  Irish, 
and  to  keep  truth  and  faith  in  his  promise,  and 
seek  no  matters  or  occasions  to  take  their  goods 
or  lands  from  them." 

By  this  means  the  annual  expenditure,  which 
Dowdall  estimated  at  ;^20,ooo,  might  be 
reduced  to  little  more  than  ^5,000 ;  while  the 
revenue  might  be  increased  by  re-letting  the 
crown    lands    on    more    profitable    terms,    by 

423 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

equalizing  the  English  and  Irish  currencies,  and 
by  abandoning  a  large  number  of  costly  and 
useless  strongholds.  "Concerning  the  daily 
hindrance  that  that  poor  realm  sustaineth  by  the 
money"  the  Primate  spoke  with  the  utmost 
bitterness,  repeating  almost  verbatim  the  com- 
plaints of  Sir  James  Crofts  in  the  preceding 
reign.  The  speech  ends  with  an  earnest  exhor- 
tation to  the  Queen  to  establish  a  university  in 
Ireland,  "with  some  free  schools  in  such  places 
as  shall  be  thought  meet,  whereby  learning  shall 
increase,  and  by  learning  (the  Irish)  be  brought 
to  know  their  duty  to  God  first,  and  next  to 
their  prince,  and  so  then  brought  to  obey  the 
prince's  laws."^ 

The  archbishop  died  a  few  weeks  later.  It 
does  not  appear  that  his  arguments  made  much 
impression  on  the  Queen,  for  the  policy  of  the 
Irish  government  underwent  no  change. 

The  Scots  continued  to  give  trouble,  and 
Sussex,  at  his  own  earnest  request,  obtained  per- 
mission to  attack  them  in  their  own  country. 
A  fleet  was  equipped  in  August ;  on  September 
14th  the  Deputy  sailed  from  Dublin,  "trusting 
to  accomplish  your  Highness's  commandment 
if  wind  and  weather  serve."  Arriving  on  the 
nineteenth  at  Lough  Gylkeran  in  Kintyre,  he 
landed  and  burned  the  country  for  eight  miles, 
"and  therewith  James  McDonnell's  chief  house, 

^  The  Archbishop  of  Armachane,  his  opinion  touching  the 
government  of  Ireland,  1558  [Harleian  MSS.^  vol.  xxxv,  No.  4). 

424 


PLANTATION   OF  LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

called  Saudell,  a  fair  pile  and  a  strong."  On 
the  next  day  he  crossed  over  by  land  and  burned 
twelve  miles  on  the  other  side  of  the  lough^ 
"w^herein  were  burned  a  fair  house  of  his  called 
Mawher  Imore,  and  a  strong  castle  called 
Donalvere."  From  Kintyre  he  proceeded  to 
Arran,  "and  did  the  like  there,"  and  thence 
to  the  Great  and  Little  Cumbrays,  which  he 
also  burned.  "And  riding  at  anchor  between 
Cumbrays  and  Bute,  where  I  also  thought  to 
have  landed,  there  rose  suddenly  a  terrible  tem- 
pest, in  which  I  sustained  some  loss."  ' 

The  loss  was  probably  more  serious  than  the 
Lord  Deputy  admitted,  for,  although  he  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  Ireland  in  safety,  he  did  not 
again  venture  to  cross  the  water,  but  contented 
himself  with  making  war  upon  the  Scots  in 
Ulster.  In  October  he  invaded  the  Route  and 
carried  off  a  few  more  cows,  but  the  victory  was 
bought  at  a  terrible  price.  A  horrible  disease 
broke  out  among  the  fleet  and  spread  from  the 
fleet  to  the  army.  In  a  few  days  out  of  one 
thousand  one  hundred  soldiers  less  than  four 
hundred  were  fit  to  take  the  field.  Sickness  and 
the  approach  of  winter  combined  to  render 
further  military  operations  impossible,  and  the 
remnant  of  the  troops  retired  in  disorder  to 
Dublin.' 

^Sussex   to   the   Queen,    September    13,    October    3    and 
October  6. 

^  Sussex  to  the  Queen,  October  31. 

425 


PLANTATION   OF   LEIX  AND  OFFALY 

The  prosecution  of  the  Scots  absorbed  the 
attention  of  the  Irish  government  during  the 
last  months  of  Mary's  reign  ;  but  another  event 
which  took  place  about  the  same  time,  although 
it  is  not  even  mentioned  in  the  state  papers  of 
the  year,  was  productive  of  far  more  serious 
consequences.  In  the  autumn  of  1558,  while 
Queen  Mary  lay  sick  unto  death,  Matthew, 
Baron  of  Dungannon,  was  killed  in  attempting 
to  invade  his  brother's  territory,  and  at  the 
1559  beginning  of  the  next  year  the  old  Earl  of 
Tyrone  died.  With  the  death  of  his  father 
Shane  became  in  name  what  he  had  long  been 
in  fact,  the  chief  of  the  O'Neils,  while  the  earl- 
dom descended  to  his  nephew,  Matthew's  infant 
son,  Brian.  Mary  had  died  in  November,  and 
it  was  left  for  the  new  sovereign  to  decide 
whether  she  should  support  the  claims  of  the 
young  Baron,  or  recognize  the  right  of  an  Irish 
tribe  to  choose  its  own  rulers.^ 

^Elizabeth  to  Sussex,  August  15,  1560.  Proclamation 
against  Shane  O'Neil,  June  8,  1561.  Campion,  p.  188. 
Four  M aster Sy  1 558. 


426 


INDEX 


Adare,  8 1 

Adrian  IV,  Pope,  157 

Agard,  Thomas,  195,  351 

Albanagh,  Thomas,  210 

Alen,  John,  Archbishop  of 
Dublin,  87,  88,  92,  94, 
100,  i<b']n 

Alen,  Sir  John,  Master  of  the 
Rolls,  subsequently  Lord 
Chancellor,  88 ;  denounces 
Kildare,  89  ;  complains  of 
Skeffington,  io6n,  107, 
117,  181,  191  ;  his  passion 
for  intrigue,  195,  289,  299; 
conspires  against  Gray, 
221,  228  ;  a  commissioner 
for  the  dissolution  of  the 
monasteries,  275 ;  intrigues 
against  St.  Leger,  289, 
290,  299  ;  sent  to  the 
Tower,  293  ;  complains  of 
Bellingham,  303,  304 

All  Saints,  Dublin,  279 

Anglo-Irish  Lords,  their  exac- 
tions, 54,  55,  63-65 

Ardagh,  diocese  of,  141 

Ardee,  223 

Ards,  34,  346 

Arklow,  59 

Aroasian  monasteries,  147 

Arra,  207 

Ashbold,  Edmund,  24872 


Athlone,  113,  282 
Augustinian  monasteries,  147 
Aylmer,  Gerald,  Chief  Justice 
of  the  King's  Bench,  117, 
181,  191,  204,  374,  382 

Bagenall,  Sir    Ralph,    326, 

381 
Bale,  John,  Bishop  of  Ossory, 

333-340,  359-364,  366 
Ballybogan  abbey,  166  ;  Holy 

Rood  of,  281 
Baltinglass,    abbey    of,    146, 

166 
Barnewall,      Patrick,       166, 

278 
Baron,  Milo,  Bishop  of  Ossory, 

135 
Roland,  Archbishop  of 

Cashel,  365 
Barrys,  40,  286,  419  ;  Lord, 

246,  343 
Basnet,  Edward,  Dean  of  St. 

Patrick's,  331 
Beccarie,  Raymond  de,  Sicur 

de  Fourqueval,  309,  310 
BectifF  abbey,  166 
Bellahoe,  battle  of,  223,  224 
Bellingham,  Sir  Edward,  282, 

289,    299-308,    316-320, 

373;  374,  376 
Benedictine  monasteries,  147 


427 


INDEX 


Berminghams,  37,  419 
Berners,  William,  190 
Birr,  207 
Bissets,  34 
Black  rents,  71,  213 
Bodkin,    Christopher,    Arch- 
bishop of  Tuam,  143,271, 

275 
Body,  William,  182 
Boleyn,   Anne,    marriage    of, 

90«,  162 
Thomas.    See  Wiltshire, 

Earl  of 
Bonnaught,  63,  409« 
Bonner,  Edmund,   Bishop  of 

London,  275 
Boulogne,     siege     of,     288  ; 

restored  to  France,  312 
Brabazon,  Sir  William,  122, 

173,   181,    182,  186,  204, 

215,  228,   275,  278,  297, 

298,  308 
Brady,    Thomas,    Bishop    of 

Kilmorc,  134 
Brakland,  187 
Brann,    George,    Bishop    of 

Dromore,  133 
Brehon  law,  48-50 
Brereton,   Sir   William,    104, 

117,  228,  234,  237,  244 
Andrew,     318,     319, 

346,  347 

Brigid,  Saint,  45,  145 

Browne,  George,  Archbishop 
of  Dublin,  his  character, 
156  ;  letter  to  Cromwell, 
159,  160  ;  speech  on  the 
royal  supremacy,  163,  164  ; 
quarrels  with  his  clergy,  167, 


271  ;  and  with  the  Bishop 
of  Meath,  168  ;  rebuked 
by  Henry,  168  ;  denounces 
Gray,  196  ;  preaches 
against  Popery,  271  ;  a 
commissioner  for  the  dis- 
solution of  the  monasteries, 
275;  his  rapacity,  278,329; 
destroys  images,  281,  282  ; 
denounces  St.  Leger,  315  ; 
speech  in  favour  of  the  new 
liturgy,  323  ;  denounces 
Dowdall,  326  ;  obtains  the 
primacy,  330  ;  denounced 
by  Bale,  337,  340  ;  con- 
secrates Bale  and  Goodacre, 
338,  339  ;  deprived,  364  ; 
his  bastards,  365 

Bruce,  Edward,  33 

Bryan,  Sir  Francis,  303,  308 

Burke,  Theobald,  207 

Burkes,  36,  40,  207,  392, 
419  ;  sre  also  De  Burgh 
and  MacWilliam  Burke 

Butler,  James,  Lord.  See 
Ormond,  James,  ninth  Earl 

Edmund,      Archbishop 

of  Cashel,  135,  136,  271, 
274 

Richard,  Lord  Mount- 


garrett,  213,  340,  360 

Calais,  loss  of,  414,  415 
Candalle,  Comtc  de,  g$n 
Cannon,  Thomas,  88 
Carmelites,  149 
Carrick  Bradagh,   221,   225, 

237 
Carrickfergus,  35,  393 


428 


INDEX 


Carrickogynell,     174,     177, 

181 
Casey,    William,    Bishop    of 

Limerick,  324^,   364-366 
Catherlagh,  41 
Cess,  352 
Christ  Church,  Dublin,  priory 

of,  150 
Churches,  state  of  the  Irish, 

I37:H4,  400" 
Cistercian  monasteries,  148 
Clandeboye,    30,     33,     346, 

413 
Clare,  abbey  of,  280 
Clement  VII,  Pope,  96 
Clonmacnois,  diocese  of,  141  ; 

abbey  of,  282 
Clontarf,  99 
Coinmed,  55 
Columba,  Saint,  145 
Columbanus,  144 
Comyn,   Nicholas,  Bishop  of 

Waterford,  135 
Connal,  abbey  of,  150,  153 
Connaught,    Irish     in,     31  ; 

Normans  in,  36-38,  241  ; 

not  divided   into  counties, 

53  ;  state  of,  in  1552,  344, 

345 

Coshery,  64 

Cowley,  Robert,  88,  151, 
165,  191,  275 

Coyne  and  livery,  55 

Cranmer,  Thomas,  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  322, 

332 
Crofts,   Sir  James,   325-327, 

33i>  332,  351,  354-357, 
375,  376,  382 


Cromer,  George,  Archbishop 

of  Armagh,  88,  93,  272 
Cromwell,  Thomas,  90,  214, 

249>  334 
Cullen,    Patrick,    Bishop    of 

Clogher,  134 
Currency,     depreciation     of, 

350-358,  412 
Curwen,    Hugh,   Archbishop 

of  Dublin,   366-368,  391, 

414 
Cusack,    Sir    Thomas,    247, 

276,  326,  338  ;  his  report 

to    Northumberland,   342- 

348,  382 

De  Burgh,  Honora,  377 

(or     Burke),      Roland, 

Bishop    of   Clonfert,    170, 
196,  273 

De  Burghs,  Earls  of  Ulster, 

36,  37 
De     Clare,     Richard,     called 

Strongbow,  44,  145 
De  Courcy,  John,  33,  35,  145 
De  Lacy,  Hugh,  33,  145 

Walter,  145 

Delahide,    James,    92,    116, 

203,  204 
Delvin,  Lord,  Lord  Deputy, 

72,  87,  186 
Dengen,  118,  187,  188,  395 
Desmond,  Earls  of,  extent  of 

their  jurisdiction,    39,    40, 

Maurice,  first  Earl  of, 

39,  55 

Thomas,     eighth    Earl 


of,  83 


429 


INDEX 


Desmond,  James,  ninth  Earl 

of,  140 
Maurice,  tenth  Earl  of, 

of,  140 

James,    eleventh    Earl 


of,  56,  57>  86,  95,  199 

Thomas,    twelfth  Earl 

of,  95,  no,  112 

John,    thirteenth    Earl 


of,  no,  171,  173 

James        FitzMaurice, 

calling  himself  thirteenth 
Earl  of,  1 12,  211,  224,  238 
James  Fitzjohn,  four- 


teenth Earl  of,  173,  180, 
203-205,  207,  211,  217, 
220,  222,  223,  238  ;  sub- 
mission of,  239,  246,  347, 
348,  392 

Dingle,  56,  no 

Dominicans,  148,  149,  155 

Doran,  Maurice,  Bishop  of 
Leighlin,  59,  136 

Dowdall,  George,  Archbishop 
of  Armagh,  272,275,  304, 

305,  3i3>  314,  325-330> 
364,  399>  400,  413;  his 
"opinion  touching  the 
government  of  Ireland," 
418-424 

Down,  cathedral  of,  282 

Duleek  priory,  166 

Dunboyne,  107 

Dunbrody  abbey,  166 

Dungannon,  225 

Dungarvan,  57 

Dusk  (or  Dousk),  abbey  of, 
59,  166,  278« 

Dyrram,  John,  ii6« 

43 


Ellengrane,  abbey  of,  280 
Ely  O'Carroll,  40,  207,  404 
Enaghdune,  diocese  of,  142 
English  rebels,  32-41 
Eremites,  149 

Fassaghroe,  219 

Ferns,  abbey  of,  146,  166 

Fethard,  40,  135 

Fingal,  44,  98 

Finglas,  Thomas,  Chief 
Baron,  94 

FitzAdelm,  William,  145 

FitzGerald,  Richard  Oge, 
386,  406 

FitzMaurice,  Lord,  246,  343 

James,  thirteenth  Earl 

of  Desmond.    Seg  Desmond 

FitzPatrick.  See  MacGilla- 
patrick 

FitzPiers  (FitzGerald),  Ty- 
balt, 212,  248^ 

FitzStephen,  Robert,  44 

FitzSymonds,  Walter,  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  130 

Fitz Walter,  Lord.  See  Sussex, 
Earl  of 

FitzWilliam,     Sir     William, 

.390.   . 
FitzWilliam,  Treasurer  of  St. 

Patrick's,  304 
Fosterage,  52 
Fourqueval,      Raymond      de 

Beccarie,    Sieur     de.      See 

Beccarie 
Franciscans,  149,  155 

Gardiner,  Stephen,  Bishop 
of  Winchester,  275 


INDEX 


Gavelkind,  51,  52 
Geraldines,  32,  60,  90,  298, 

309*  419 
the  five,  brothers  of  the 

ninth  Earl  of  Kildare,  121, 

122,  183,  185 

See  also  Desmond,  Earls 


of;    Kildare,  Earls  of 
Goodacre,  Hugh,  Archbishop 

of  Armagh,  333,  338 
Gormanstow^n,  Lord,  66n 
Gossipred,  52,  53 
Gracedieu,  nunnery  of,  150, 

278 
Granard,  abbot  of,  127,  153 
Grane,  nunnery  of,  167,  277 
Gray,  Lord  Leonard,  114, 
1 1 7, 1 1 8  ;  captures  Kildare, 
119;  Lord  Deputy,  172; 
his  campaign  in  Munster, 
^73"  ^7^  5  quarrel  with 
Brabazon,  181,  182  ;  com- 
plains of  ill-usage,  183-184; 
reduces  Leinster,  186-189; 
accused  of  Popery,  195- 
197 ;  his  distrust  of  the 
Butlers,  197-199;  adopts 
a  conciliatory  policy,  201, 
202,  233  ;  his  progress 
through  Munster  and  Con- 
naught,  207-209 ;  com- 
plaints against,  210-214; 
reconciliation  vi^ith 
Ormond,  215  ;  attempts 
to  capture  "young  Gerald," 
221,  223,  225  ;  defeats 
O'Neil  at  Bellahoe,  223  ; 
reduces  Munster,  224,238; 
recalled,  227  ;  sent  to  the 


Tower,  229  ;  trial  and 
execution  of,  247-249 ; 
opposes  the  dissolution  of 
the  monasteries,  276-277  ; 
created  Viscount  Grane, 
2'jjn  ;  burns  the  cathedral 
of  Down,  282 

Haghevoo,  friary  of,  280 

Hagmacarte,  monastery  of, 
280 

Halsay,  Thomas,  Bishop  of 
Leighlin,  133 

Henry  VIII,  his  marriage  with 
Anne  Boleyn,  90,  162  ; 
resolves  to  extirpate  the 
Geraldines,  122  ;  his 
ecclesiastical  policy,  1 24, 
273)  30°  ;  declared  head 
of  the  church,  163-165  ; 
rebukes  Archbishop 
Browne,  168  ;  dissatisfied 
with  the  state  of  Ireland, 
184  ;  his  Irish  policy,  230- 
233  ;  declared  King  of 
Ireland,  247  ;  accused  of 
poisoning  Ormond,  293, 
294 

Hogges,  nunnery  of,  167 

Holmpatrick,  priory  of,  166 

Hospitallers,  148 

Howth,  Judge,  360 

Inch,  abbot  of,  127,  153 
Inge,   Hugh,    Archbishop    of 

Dublin,  130,  143 
Inislonaught,  abbey  of,  152 
Innishowen,  310 
Innocent  VI,  Pope,  329 


43 


INDEX 


Irish  bishoprics,  revenues  of, 

131,  I32«. 
Irish  enemies,  29-32 

Jerpoint,  abbey  of,  150 
Jesuits  in  Ireland,  I38« 
John  XXII,  Pope,  127 
Jorse,  Roland,  Archbishop  of 

Armagh,  127 
Walter,  Archbishop  of 

Armagh,  329 
Judges,  corruption  of,  75 

Kavanagh,    Cahir    Mac  Art, 
135,  212 

Maurice,  59 

Kavanaghs,  41,  44,  63,  188, 

213,  219,   234,  235,  239, 

291.     343^      385,     386", 

392,  419 
Kells,  abbey  of,  150 
Kelway,  Captain,  206 
Kilcash,  statutes  of,  63,  191 
KilcuUen,  Lord,  2i3«,  416 
Kildare,    Countess    of,    179, 

202 

Earls  of,  extent  of  their 

jurisdiction,  41,  81 

Gerald,  eighth  Earl  of, 

82,  130,  140,  409« 

Gerald,  ninth  Earl  of, 

72,     82-92,     I32tt,     143, 
409^ 

Thomas,  tenth  Earl  of. 


Vice-Deputy,  90,  91  ; 
rebels,  93  ;  invades  the 
Pale,  97,  98  :  lays  siege 
to  Dublin,  99 ;  defeats 
Ormond,     102  ;     captures 


Dublin,  103  ;  burns  Trim 
and  Dunboyne,  107  ;  sends 
agents  to  the  Emperor, 
1 1 0,  116;  surrenders,  119; 
executed,  121  ;  attainted, 
161 

Gerald,   eleventh    Earl 


of,  122,  179,  203-205, 
213-215,  220,  225,  227, 
270,  308,  372,  382,  383, 
385,  409,  415,  416 

Kilkenny,  statute  of,  127, 
162 

Kilmainham,   99,    106,    168, 

391 

Grand    Prior    of,    148, 

152 

King,  Mrs.  Matthew,  361 
Knockfergus.       See    Carrick- 

fergus 
Knocktoe,     battle    of,     66«, 

73«. 

Lancaster,  Thomas,  Bishop 
of  Kildare,  324^,  364- 
366 

Lecale,  35,  223,  346 

Lee,  Edward,  Archbishop  of 
York,  334 

Leinster,  device  for  the  re- 
formation of,  282,  283 

Leix,  41,  42,  301,  317  ; 
limits  of,  404,  409,  413 

and   Offaly,   plantation 

of>  373-376,  388-390, 
395-398,  401-404,  421 

Leverous,  Thomas,  Bishop  of 
Kildare,  179,  225,  325, 
331,  364,  365 


432 


INDEX 


Linch,  Mary,  377 
Lockwood,  Thomas,  Dean  of 

Christ  Church,  336,  338 
Loftus,  Adam,  Archbishop  of 

Dubh'n,  151 
Lollardism,  124 
Lough  Gyr,  173,  181 
Louth,  priory  of,  153,  278 
Luttrell,       Thomas,       Chief 

Justice    of    the     Common 

Pleas,  75«,  204 
Lyvetiston,  59 
Lynch,  Thomas,  220 

MacArtans,  318,  319 
MacCarrig,  Thady,  134 
MacCarthy,  Connor,  369 

Cormac  Oge,  113 

Lady     Eleanor,      203- 

205,   209,   213,  216,  217, 
225,  234,  251 

Mor,     71,    219,    343, 


392 

Reagh,  204 

Teig    MacCormac, 

205 

MacCarthys,  31,  113,  286 
MacCoghlan,  208,  217 

Cormac,      Bishop      of 

Clonmacnois,  134 

McCragh,  Ee,  205 
MacDermot,  31,  217,  345 
MacDonnell,  James,  424 

Sorley  Boy,  415 

MacDonnells,   34,  393,  394, 

422-426 
MacGeoghegans,    187,    208, 

234 
MacGerald,  Gerald,  210 


MacGillapatrick,  Barnaby, 
second  Baron  of  Upper 
Ossory,  361,  384 

Brian,     first    Baron    of 

Upper  Ossory,  186,  198, 
242,  243,  246,  340,  347, 
348 

MacGravyll,    Archdeacon    of 

Kells,  1 10 
MacMahon,  31,  206,  259 
MacMurrough,      Dermot, 

King  of  Leinster,  146 

Kavanagh,     71,     102, 

109,  172,  213,  228,  234, 
246,  404 

MacQuillin,  259,  393 
MacShane,    Sir    Gerald,    62, 

224,  287^ 
MacWilliam  Burke,  Richard, 

Captain      of     Clanricarde, 

113,   208;    deposed,   211, 

241 

Burke,  Richard,  second 

Earl  of  Clanricarde,    378, 

392 

Burke,  Ulick,  Captain 


of  Clanricarde,  378 

Burke,  Ulick,  first  Earl 

of  Clanricarde,  170,  205, 
207,  208,  211  ;  submission 
of,  241,  242  ;  attends 
parliament,  246  ;  created 
Earl  of  Clanricarde,  256, 
262  ;  grant  of  abbey  lands 
to,  279  ;  death  of,  344  ;  his 
marriages  and  divorces,  377 

Burke  of  Mayo,   205, 


344 
MacYoris,  208 


433 


2  F 


INDEX 


Magennis,  31,  35,   346,  347, 

369 
Maghery,  43 

Maguire,  31,  109,  217,  248^ 

Maiachy  (O'Morgair),  Saint, 

Archbishop     of     Armagh, 

145 

Mandevilles,  34 
Mansell,  Sir  Rice,  107 
Marshall,    William,    Earl    of 

Pembroke,  145 
Mary,  Queen  of  England,  her 

ecclesiastical    policy,    368- 

370 

Queen  of  Scots,  308 

of  Guise,  Queen  Regent 

of  Scotland,  309 

Maynooth,  siege  of,  1 1 1 4,  115, 

186,  209 
Meath,      divided      into     two 

shires,  42,  284 
Mellifont,  abbey  of,  154 
Melville,  Sir  James,  310 
Mey,    John,    Archbishop    of 

Armagh,  130,  132 
Modreny,  207,  2I0« 
Monaghan,  a   part   of  Uriel, 

42 

Franciscans  of,  281 

Monasteries  in  Ireland  in  the 

seventh  century,  144  ;  in 
1537,  146  ;  dissolution  of, 
166,  275-280 

Monluc,  Jean  de,  Bishop  of 
Valence,  31 0-3 1 2 

Moyle,  Thomas,  190 

Munster,  Normans  in,  38-40  ; 
ordinances  for  the  reforma- 
tion of,  285-287 


Nangle,  Richard,  the 
"  drunken  Bishop  of  Gal- 
way,"  169,  170,273,337, 
362 

Navan,  223 

New  Abbey,  278 

Norfolk,  Duke  of,  84,  85, 
120,  162,  236,  300 

Northumberland,  Duke  of, 
261,  306,  312,  318,  335, 
354-358,  361 

O'Brien,  Connor,  Chief  of 
Thomond,  levies  "  black 
rent,"  71  ;  negotiates  with 
Spain,  1 10;  dissensions 
with  his  family,  1 1 1,  1 12  ; 
offers  to  submit,  171  ;  his 
bridge,  174-176,  181  ; 
entertains  "young  Gerald," 
180,  203,  205 

D  o  n  a  1,     King     10  f 

Thomond,  146 

Sir  Donnell,  112,  344,. 

379>  380,  385 

Donouiih,  second  Earl 


of  Thomond,  iii,  113, 
174,  175,  177,  211,  246, 
258,   279,   344,  379,  380, 

392 

Matthew,  174 

Murrough,    first    Earl 

of  Thomond,  112,  174; 
attacks  Ormond,  223  ; 
negotiates  with  St.  Leger, 
240  ;  sends  "  proctors  "  to 
parliament,  246  ;  submis- 
sion of,  256,  257  ;  created 
Earl    of    Thomond,    258, 


434 


INDEX 


262  ;  grant  of  abbey  lands 

to,  279  ;  his  death,  344 
O'Briens,    31,   38,   58,   207, 

392,  417,  419 
O'Brien's  brid2;e,    175,    176, 

208 
O'Byrne,  44,  102,  172,  219, 

228,  235,  236,  258,  259, 

284,  291,  343,  386 
O'Cahan,  30,  217 
O'Carroll,  Fergananym,  82«, 

205,  207,  210,  248«,  292, 

347 

Grania,  377 

Mulrony,  58,  71,  291, 

377 
O'Carrolls,    188,    207,    291, 

398 

O'Cervallan,  Hugh,  Bishop 
of  Clogher,  274 

O'Conor,  Brian,  Chief  of 
Offaly,  levies  "  black  rent," 
71  ;  his  marriage,  82«  ; 
captures  Lord  Delvin,  87  ; 
invades  the  Pale,  97, 
98,  102,  1 10;  captures 
Rathangan,  117;  advises 
Kildare  to  negotiate,  118; 
submission  of,  172  ;  revolt 
and  defeat  of,  186,  187  ; 
reconquers  Offaly,  189  ; 
treaty  with  Gray,  201,210; 
invades  Kildare,  228,  237  ; 
submission  of,  243,  244  ; 
recommended  for  a  peerage, 
244,  263,  297  ;  revolt  of, 
295-299  ;  sent  to  England, 
302  ;  return  to  Ireland,  383; 
proposed  liberation  of,  390 


O'Conor,    Cahir,    no,    188, 
189 

Cathal,  King  of  Con- 
naught,  146 

Conor  Mor,  219,  221 

Cormac,  408 

Donough,  395-398 

Lady  Mary,  82«,  122, 


180 


345 


Margaret,  383 

Rcy,  395,  397 
Don,  31,  216,  345 

Roe,    31,     212,     216, 

Sligo,    31,    216,    217, 

345 
O'Conors,  31,  38,  216,  345, 

374,  385,  386,  390,  392, 
395,  401,  402,  406,  408, 

413,  421 
O'Coyne,  Edmund,  370 
O'Dempsey,  235,  398 
Odo,  Bishop  of  Ross,  134 
O'Dogherty,  31,  310-312 
O'Donel,  Calvagh,  347 

Hugh,  31,  109,  200 

Manus,  200 ;   marriage 

of,  204,  205;  reconciliation 
with  O'Conor  Sligo,  216, 
217;  invades  the  Pale, 
221,  222,  413;  alleged 
treachery  of,  226«  ;  sub- 
mission of,  249-251  ; 
recommended  for  an  earl- 
dom, 263;  conspires  with 
France,  310-313  ;  his 
quarrel  with  his  son,  347 

Roderick,     Bishop     of 


Derry,  219 


435 


INDEX 


O'Donels,  140,  347,349, 41 9 
O'Driscoll,  Finnin,  I36« 
O'Dunn,  235,  398 
O'Farrell,  31,  393 

William,     Bishop     of 

Ardagh,  135 

Offaly,  31,42,186-189,234, 
301,  317  ;  limits  of,  403, 
404,409,413 

plantation  of.    See  Leix 

and  Offaly 

Thomas,     Lord.        See 


Kildare,     Thomas,     tenth 

Earl  of 
OTihely,   Manus,  Abbot   of 

Thurles,  277 
Thomas,     Bishop     of 

Leighlin,  365 
O'Flahertys,  31,  38,  208 
O'Hanlon,  30,  346 
O'Hara,  31 
O'Henisa,    Nicholas,    Bishop 

ofWaterford,  131 
O'Hiffernan,  i^^neas.   Bishop 

of  Elphin,  274 
O'Kelly,  31,  113,  344,  345, 

393 
Hugh,  Abbot  of  Knock- 

moy,  I54«,  259 

O'Kennedy,  207 

O'Madden,  208 

O'Malleys,  31 

O'Melaghlins,  187,  208,234, 

377   ' 
O'Molloys,  187,  234,  398 

O'Moorc,    Connell,  chief  of 

Leix,     102,      109,     118  ; 

death   of,   2i3«;   his  sons, 

213,  248^  ;   291 


O'Moore,  Connell  Oge,  396, 
405 

Gilpatrick,  298,  302 

Piers,         brother        of 

Connell,  2i3n,  246 

O'Moores,  41,  198,  235, 
239>  258,  291,  299,  374, 
376,  385,  386,  392,  395, 
396,  401,  402,  408,  413, 
421 

O'Mulryans,  207 

Onaugh  (or  Owney),  207, 
240,  256 

O'Neil,  Con,  Earl  of  Tyrone, 
30  ;  levies  "  black  rent," 
71,  213  ;  indenture  with 
Skeffington,  109  ;  alliance 
with  O'Donel  and  the 
Geraldines,  200,  205  ; 
wishes  to  be  king  of  Ire- 
land, 220  ;  invades  the 
Pale,  221,  222,  413;  de- 
feated at  Bellahoe,  223  ; 
attacked  by  Gray,  225  ; 
marches  to  Carrick  Brad- 
agh,  237  ;  submission  of, 
251-254;  created  Earl  of 
Tyrone,  256,  260-262  ; 
conspires  with  France,  309- 
314  ;  disputes  with  his 
son,  347»  380,381  ;  death 
of,  426. 

Mathew,       Baron      of 

Dungannon,      347,      380, 
381,409;    death  of,    426 

of    Clandeboye,      35, 

217,  246 

Shane,  380,  381,  393, 


394,  410,  426 


436 


INDEX 


O'Neil,    Turlough    Lynagh, 

347 
O'Neils,      140,      347,     349, 

419 
O'Reilly,  31,  206,  228,  246, 

251,  263,  384 

Dermot,  Bishop  of  Kil- 

more,  134 

Ormond,  Earls  of,  extent  of 
their  territories,  39,  40 

James,   ninth    Earl    of, 

88,  98  ;  captures  Kil- 
dare,  119,  120  ;  subdues 
the  south-eastern  counties, 
171  ;  denounces  Gray, 
196,  202,  228  ;  grant  of 
lands  to,  I98«;  claims  the 
earldom  of  Desmond,  199; 
assists  James  FitzMaurice, 
223,  224,  238  ;  ravages 
Carlo w,  234  ;  translates 
speeches  into  Irish,  247  ; 
his  enormous  power,  289;; ; 
death  of,  293,  294. 

Piers,   eighth   Earl    of, 

conduct  in  1525,  58-60  ; 
complaints  against  in  1537, 
61  ;  Lord  Deputy,  72, 
85,  87  ;  created  Earl  of 
Ossory,  85«  ;  opposes  the 
Geraldines,  loi,  109  ; 
supports  James  Fitz- 
Maurice, 113  ;  on  the  state 
of  the  Church,  134;  gives 
Carrickogynell  to  Donough 
O'Brien,  174,  177  ,■  quarrel 
with  Gray,  183,  197  ; 
grant  of  lands  to,  I98«  ; 
sends     information     about 


Lady  Eleanor  to  the 
Council,  204,  205  ;  re- 
conciliation with  Gray^ 
215  ;  death  of,  223« 

Ormond,  Thomas,  tenth  Earl 
of,  361,  372,  384,  385 

O'Rourke,  31,  217,  259,^ 
263 

O'Sheil,  Connaught,  Bishop 
of  Elphin,  219,  274 

Ossory,  Piers,  Earl  of.  See 
Ormond 

O'Sullivans,  32,  219 

O'Toole,  Turlough,  236 

O'Tooles,  44,  98,  117,  206^ 
219,  221,  228,  235,  284, 
291,  374,  386,  395 

Pale,  the  English,  limits  of 
in  1 515,  29,  42,  43;  state 
of  in  1537,  65-76,  192  ; 
in  1538,  206;  conspiracy 
in,  218,  220  ;  grievances 
of,     230  ;     discontent     of 

(1557),  414 
Paris,  Christopher,  1 1 5 

George,  298,309,  313,. 

408 

Parker,  John,  Master  of  the 
Rolls,  391 

Parliament,  the  Irish,  of  1 536, 
160,  161  ;  of  1541,  245- 
247,  256;  of  1557,  398 

Patrick,  Saint,  145 

Paul  III,  Pope,  371 

IV,  Pope,  371,  398 

Paulet,  George,  190,  214 
Piers,  William,  415,  416 


437 


INDEX 


Poer,    Lady    Katherine,    62, 

198 
Poers,  40 

Pole,  Cardinal,  248,  382,  383 
Portu  Puro,  abbey  of,  273 
Power,  Dominic,  iio 
Powerscourt,  117,  186,  219 
Proctors  of  the  clergy,    161, 

166 
Purcell,  John,  Bishop  of  Ferns, 

QuiN,  John,  Bishop  of 
Limerick,  324^,  365 

Radcliffe,  Sir  Henry,  406 

Thomas,  Earl  of  Sussex. 

See  Sussex 
Rathangan,  117,  186 
Roches,  40,  286,  419  ;  Lord, 

246,  343 
Roe,  Thomas,  332 
Rokeby,  William,  Archbishop 

of  Dublin,  130 

St.  George,  Brotherhood  of, 
283 

St.  Leger,  Sir  Antony, 
190  ;  Lord  Deputy,  229  ; 
subdues  the  Kavanaghs, 
234 ;  recommends  Tur- 
lough  O'Toole,  236  ; 
advises  Henry  to  call  a 
parliament,  244,  245  ; 
negotiates  with  O'Donel, 
249,250;  invades  Tyrone, 
251  ;  his  scheme  for  the 
reformation  of  Leinster, 
282,      283  ;       accusations 


against,  288-290  ;  his 
defence,  290-292  ;  his 
popularity,  292,  293  ;  his 
conciliatory  policy,  295  ; 
recalled,  299;  Lord  Deputy 
second  time,  308;  his  con- 
tempt for  religion,  315  ; 
his  reforms,  318;  intro- 
duces the  English  liturgy, 
322-324  ;  recalled,  325  ; 
restores  the  mass,  364  ; 
Lord  Deputy  third  time, 
382;  his  failure,  384-386  ; 
recalled,  387 

St.  Leger,  Robert,  319 

St,  Loe,  William,  63^,  176, 
177 

St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Dublin, 
93,  150,276 

St.  Norbert,  order  of,  147 

St.  Peter,  priory  of,  near 
Trim,  166 

St.  Thomas  the  Martyr, 
abbey  of,  near  Dublin,  278 

St.  Victor,  order  of,  147 

St.  Wolstan,  priory  of,  165, 
278 

Salisbury,  John,  104 

Sarpi,  Father  Paul,  his  "  His- 
tory of  the  Council  of 
Trent"  quoted,   371,  372 

Saunders,  Matthew,  Bishop 
of  Leighlin,  135 

Savages,  34 

Scots  in  Ulster.  See 
MacDonnells 

Seymour,  Edward,  Earl  of 
Hertford,  afterwards  Duke 
of  Somerset,  260,  300,  306 


438 


INDEX 


Shee,  Robert,  sovereign  of 
Kilkenny,  363 

Sherwood,  William,  Bishop 
of  Meath,  130 

Shrewsbury,  Earl  of,  162, 
192 

Sixtus  IV,  Pope,  131 

Skeffington,  Sir  William, 
Lord  Deputy,  87,  104  ; 
his  incapacity,  105-108  ; 
besieges  Maynooth,  114, 
115;   death  of,  172 

Slane,  Lord,  109,  186 

Lady,  220 

Somerset,  Duke  of.  See 
Seymour 

Stanley,  Sir  George,  391 

Staples,  Edward,  Bishop  of 
Meath,  quarrel  with  Arch- 
bishop  Browne,  168  ; 
effects  of  his  preaching, 
320-322;  controversy  with 
Dowdall,  327-329  ;  de- 
prived, 364,  366 

Stokesley,  John,  Bishop  of 
London,  334 

Strangford,  81 

Strongbow.  See  De  Clare, 
Richard,  called  Strongbow 

Supremacy,  Act  of,   163-165 

Surrey,  Earl  of.  See  Norfolk, 
Duke  of 

Sussex,  Earl  of,  387-398  ; 
invades  Ulster,  409  ; 
character  of  his  govern- 
ment, 410,  41 1;  quarrel 
with  Dowdall,  413,  418  ; 
return  to  Ireland,  417  ; 
attacks  the  Scots,  424,  425 


Sydney,  Sir  Henry,  352,  390, 
414 

Tagh-Moling,  priory  of,  1 66 
Talbot,  Richard,  Archbishop 

of  Dublin,  130 
Tanistry,  50,  51 
Tartane,  99 
Teling,  John,  1 00 
Termonfeckan,  133 
Thomond,    31  ;   invasion   of, 

207  ;    state    of,   in    1552, 

344 
Thonery,     John,    Bishop    of 

Ossory,  365 
Tintern  abbey,  in   Wexford, 

166 
Tirrey,   Dominic,   Bishop    of 

Cork,  273 
Travers,    Robert,    Bishop    of 

Leighlin,  324n,  364-366 

a  priest,  281 

— —  Sir  John,  249,  374 
Trim,    105,    107  ;    image  of 

the  Blessed  Virgin  at,  282 
Tullow,  loi 
Tunstall,  Cuthbert,  Bishop  of 

Durham,  275 
Turner,  Richard,  332,  333 
Tyrconnel,  31 
Tyrone,  Earl  of.     See  O'Neil 


Tyr 


30 


Ulster,    Irish    in,    30,   31  ; 

Norman  settlements  in,  33  ; 

not  divided   into  counties, 

53;  state  of,  in  1541,249; 

in  1552,  346,  247 
Upper  Ossory,  40,  404 


439 


INDEX 


Upper  Ossory,  Baron  of.     See 

McGillapatrick 
Uriel,  31,  42 


Via  Nova,  abbey  of,  279 


Wafer,  Nicholas,    100,  115 
Walsh,     Robert,    116,    203, 

204,  225,  248^ 
William,     Bishop     of 

Meath,  364 
Ware,  Sir  James,  his  account 

of    the    Irish    monasteries, 

146 
Warwick,    Earl    of.      See 

Northumberland,  Duke  of 


Wauchop,  Robert,  Archbishop 

of    Armagh,    272,     273//, 

301,  312-314 
Westmeath,  42,  208,  284 
Wexford,  43,  44 
White,  James,  195 

John,  99,  loi 

Whitehead,  David,  332 
Wicklow,  42,   44«,  98,  236, 

259,  284 
Wilson,    Richard,    Bishop    of 

Meath,  133 
Wiltshire,    Thomas    Boleyn, 

Earl  of,  85^,  162 
Wisdom,  Robert,  332 
Wolsey,  Cardinal,  84,  86,  87 
Wyatt,  Sir  Thomas,  372,  382 
WycklifF,   124 


Printed  by  Maunsel  and  Company   Ltd.,   Dublin 


Date  Due 


<^^^f 


MAR    I  rt  1997 


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